As the year draws to a close, MOJEH shortlists seven book releases that have garnered attention in the literary landscape this year. From dystopian surveillance to the intricate ghosts of family legacy, these are the stories worth clearing your schedule for before the New Year.
The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
The Dream Hotel presents a chillingly plausible, Kafkaesque journey into a near-future where dreams are mined for data. Lalami explores the fragility of freedom when an algorithm decides your guilt before you’ve even woken up. The story begins as protagonist Sara T. Hussein’s passport scans as “questionable” and is told her Risk Assessment is too high at the airport. The plot then follows her journey of understanding identity and belonging. Shop Now
Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
In her long-awaited memoir, Booker Prize-winner Arundhati Roy turns her searing gaze inward. This is an electric, often funny, and deeply moving tribute to her mother, the “shelter and the storm” that shaped one of the world’s most vital voices. Shop Now
Heart the Lover by Lily King
A meditation on the lasting echoes of first love, Heart the Lover by Lily King is quite the nostalgic read. Decades after a college love triangle, a successful writer is forced to confront the decisions and deceptions of her youth in this book. With a precision akin to poetry, King delves deep into the complexities of the human experience and has notably moved readers with her approach to the modern love story. Shop Now
The Antidote by Karen Russell
Karen Russell weaves a world filled with memory-eating witches and sentient scarecrows in The Antidote, a book that merges historical fiction with magic realism. It is a surreal exploration of American history that feels like a fever dream you won’t want to wake from. If you’re looking for a more serious read with a touch of the imaginary, this is the perfect book for you. Shop Now
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai is a globe-trotting epic that spans continents and decades. Desai captures the modern ache of alienation and the pull of a shared history between two people destined to find and lose each other. Sonia and Sunny are engaging characters that take the lead, exploring a variety of emotions including loneliness and love in this book. Shop Now
The Dissenters by Youssef Rakha
Spanning 70 years of Egyptian history, Rakha’s English-language debut is a provocative, hallucinatory tale written in epistolary form. Through the life of a single, multifaceted woman, it deconstructs the weight of revolution and patriarchy. Amna, Nimo and Mouna, the names of one woman who has led a diverse life, is at the centre of this novel told through her son, Nour. Fiction and history meet in this story, making it more than just an intriguing read. Shop Now
What Will People Think? by Sara Hamdan
Straddling the line between hilarious and heartfelt, Sara Hamdan’s What Will People Think? follows the story of Mia Almas who works as a media fact checker by day and a comedian come nightfall, unbeknownst to her reserved Palestinian-American family. Mia’s journey of finding herself and what she loves lends itself to personal exploration, allowing readers to think about their own individual journeys as they read about Almas’. Shop Now
