Literary Fiction Political

Mitte der Achtzigerjahre. Berlin und ganz Deutschland teilt eine Mauer. Elias Effert ist Theatermann: Stückeschreiber, Regisseur, Liedermacher. Gerade haben ihm die Kunstwächter in der DDR gesagt, dass sie ihn nicht brauchen. Er kann gehen. Nur einer holt ihn auf dem Bahnsteig in Westberlin mit Blumen ab: Joachim, Chef eines großen Westberliner Theaters. Er will helfen. Aber Effert ist skeptisch und hält sich an Caroline, eine West-Freundin, die er aus Zeiten als erfolgreicher Ost-Künstler kennt. Sie ist bereit, ihn aufzunehmen.

Gebäude lassen sich abtragen und neu aufbauen, Erinnerungen nicht. Jan und seine Eltern sprechen nicht viel über das Heute und erst recht nicht über das Gestern. Erst als Herr Kern auftaucht, gerät das fragile Gleichgewicht der Familie ins Wanken: Welche Beziehung führte Jans Mutter mit dem Vater von Herrn Kern? Und was haben die Kerns mit der Kunst von Georg Baselitz zu tun? Immer weiter arbeitet sich Jan durch das Schweigen mehrerer Generationen, taucht ein in die Geschichte der Baselitz-Brüder, die Geschichte seiner Eltern und begreift, dass die Gegenwart nicht nur aus der eigenen Vergangenheit besteht.

Stoyo Petkanov, the deposed Party leader, is placed on trial for crimes that range from corruption to political murder. Petkanov's guilt - and the righteousness of his opponents - would seem to be self-evident. But, as brilliantly imagined by Barnes, the trial of this cunning and unrepentant dictator illuminates the shadowy frontier between the rusted myths of the Communist past and a capitalist future in which everything is up for grabs.

In South Africa, the controversial topic of botched traditional circumcisions has been very much in the news of late. A Man Who Is Not a Man recounts the personal trauma of a young Xhosa initiate after a rite-of-passage circumcision has gone wrong. With frankness and courage, author Thando Mgqolozana's powerful novel details the pain and lifelong shame that is experienced as a result of not just the physical trauma, but the social ostracism of being labeled "a failed man".

Was wir sehen - und lieber nicht sehen wollen. Einen Sommer lang arbeitet Elise für das gesellige Paar Margaux und Philippe in deren Ferienhaus in der Normandie. Fasziniert von den vielen illustren Gästen in der Domaine de Tourgéville, vom Leben, Wesen und der Ehe der Leclercs, wird die junge Frau zur eindringlichen Beobachterin von Sein und Schein. Sie erlebt ein Panoptikum der menschlichen Täuschungen, begreift, dass das Streben nach Glück und die Bereitschaft zum Betrug zwei Seiten derselben Medaille sind.

Giugno 1981: a Vermicino il piccolo Alfredo Rampi è incastrato in un pozzo artesiano. Diciotto ore di diretta televisiva raccontano la sua fine e lo trasformano in un'icona mediatica - Alfredino. L'Italia non lo dimenticherà più. È l'alba di una nuova nazione, pronta a varare il suo decennio più patinato e contraddittorio, gli anni Ottanta. Percossi dalla Storia che stravolgerà l'Italia stessa e il mondo - la P2, la caduta del Muro, Tangentopoli, le guerre di Bush, la crisi - si muovono i protagonisti di questo libro.

Prof is an ex-prisoner, activist and retired academic, who resolves to live a life of darkness after his release from prison. He holes up in his apartment, pushing away friends and family, and embraces his status as an urban legend in the neighborhood until a knock at the door shakes his existence. His visitor is Desire, an orphan and final year student, who has grown up idolizing Prof, following a fateful encounter in her hometown of Maroko, Nigeria as a child. Tentatively, the two begin to form a bond, as she returns every night at 9 p.m. to see him.

Tras años de ausencia, Mauricio, un dentista con ideales pero sin carácter, regresa a Barcelona. Un encuentro casual le lleva a participar en la campaña del partido socialista y a entablar una intensa relación con dos mujeres: Clotilde, que trata de encontrar el equilibrio entre sus ilusiones y la prosaica realidad, y la conmovedora Porritos, que le revelará aspectos oscuros de su personalidad y de su mundo.

Rosa and Esther march through downtown Detroit in August 1968 to protest the war in Vietnam. When a bloodied teenager reports that mounted police are beating protesters a few blocks away, the young women hurry to offer assistance. They try to stop the violence, but an officer is injured and the sisters are arrested. Rosa sees an opportunity to protest the war in court. Esther has an infant daughter and wants to avoid prison, which means accepting a plea bargain and testifying against her sister.

Una mujer acaba de perder a su marido y vela el cadáver durante la noche. Sobre la mesilla hay un libro - la Biblia - que la esposa hojea. Va leyendo los párrafos subrayados por el hombre que se ha ido para siempre. Una oleada de recuerdos le viene a la mente y empieza un lento, desordenado monólogo en el que la vida pugna por hacerse real otra vez. La pobre vida llena de errores y torpezas, de pequeños goces e incomprensiones. ¿Ha conocido Carmen alguna vez a Mario?

A novel of great humanity, compassion and astonishing immediacy, this unique debut portrays the emotional reality of contemporary life in the West Bank and the irreconcilable Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A collage of narrative voices and different points of view are woven around the murder of two young people, one Israeli and one Palestinian. Brave and bold, this gorgeously written work of fiction introduces a large cast of characters in a setting where violence is routine, even normal, and where survival is defined by boundaries, walls, and checkpoints.

Once a promising actor, Tim Brettigan has gone missing. His father thinks he may have seen him among some homeless people. And though she knows he left on purpose, his mother has been searching for him all over the city. She checks the usual places and stum­bles upon a local community group with lofty goals and an enigmatic leader who will alter all of their lives. Christina, a young woman rapidly becoming addicted to a boutique drug that gives her a feeling of blessedness, is inexplicably drawn to the same collective by a man who’s convinced he may start a revolution.

Thirty years after its great triumph in Vietnam, the US has again become mired in an endless foreign war overseas. Stories of super soldiers known as the Volunteers tuck in little American boys and girls every night. Yet domestic politics are aflame. Violent protests erupt throughout the nation; an ex-military watchdog group clashes with police while radical terrorists threaten to expose government experiments within the veteran rehabilitation colonies. Halfway between war and peace, the Volunteers find themselves waiting for orders in the vast American city-state, Empire City.

In the 99th district of a sprawling labour camp, the Author, Musician, Scholar, Theologian and Technician - and hundreds just like them - are undergoing Re-education, to restore their revolutionary zeal and credentials. In charge of this process is the Child, who delights in draconian rules, monitoring behaviour and confiscating treasured books. But when bad weather arrives, followed by the ‘three bitter years’, the intellectuals are abandoned by the regime and left on their own to survive.

One autumn night, as a grad student named Matthew is walking home from the subway, a handsome skateboarder catches his eye. Leif, mesmerizing and enigmatic, invites Matthew to meet his friends, who are experimenting with tarot cards. It's easier to know what's in other people's minds than most people realize, the friends claim. Do they believe in telepathy? Can they actually do it? Though Matthew should be writing his dissertation on the poetry of kingship, he soon finds himself falling in love with Leif - a poet of the internet age.

Amy Waldman, who reported from Afghanistan for the New York Times after 9/11, has created a taut, propulsive novel about power, perspective, and idealism, brushing aside the dust of America's longest-standing war to reveal the complicated truths beneath. A Door in the Earth is the rarest of books, one that helps us understand living history through poignant characters and unforgettable storytelling.

When Robert Walter, popular mayor of Amsterdam, sees his wife toss her head back with laughter while chatting to one of his aldermen at a New Year's reception, he immediately suspects the worst. Despite their long and happy marriage, Robert is convinced that Sylvia is cheating on him - with the respectable alderman who is dedicated to the environment, no less. The man who wants to spoil the capital's skyline with wind turbines.

Fred is the sole offspring of Lenny Snyder, the famous (or notorious) pied piper of the counterculture, and in middle age he hates being reminded of it. But neither can he ignore any longer his psychedelically bizarre childhood. From infancy, for instance, he was called Freedom (in fact his given name) not only by those who should have known him but also by members of the burgeoning movement led by his father, who happily exploited having his wife and his toddling, then walking and talking, and finally observant son in tow.

Antonio M. Lugo Olea supo encender la imaginación y la esperanza de millones de mexicanos ofreciendo una lucha frontal contra la corrupción, la impunidad y la delincuencia organizada. También prometió hacer lo posible por terminar con la pobreza, la marginación y la injusticia. Los ciudadanos, hartos de gobiernos de ineptos y ladrones, con su voto llevaron a AMLO a la presidencia del país. Por si fuera poco, su partido también consiguió una avasalladora mayoría en el Congreso, vital para apoyarlo en todos sus proyectos.

After surviving a car crash that left her widowed at 22, Kathleen has retreated to a remote corner of a state park, where she works flipping burgers for deer hunters and hikers. But when a stranger appears in the dead of winter, Kathleen is intrigued. He says he's a student visiting from Uzbekistan, and his worldliness fills her with curiosity about life beyond the valley. After a cautious friendship settles between them, the stranger confesses to a terrible crime in his home country, and Kathleen finds herself in the grip of a manhunt - and face-to-face with secrets of her own.