A summer with Kim Novak (17 page)

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Michael Kaufman & Gary Barker •
The Afghan Vampires Book Club

In the
25
th year of the US-Afghan War, two hundred US soldiers are massacred. Amongst the growing number of discarded veterans, rumours circulate that one soldier made it out alive. When British journalist John Fox finally tracks down Captain Tanner Jackson, he hears an astonishing tale of violence, cover-ups and revenge—but also of enduring love. Part anti-war fable, part page-turning dystopian adventure,
The Afghan Vampires Book Club
will reshape your understanding of what endless war inflicts, not only on the men and women who become soldiers, but on us all.

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Bert Wagendorp •
Ventoux

During the summer of
1982
, six friends—five boys, one girl—climb the legendary Mont Ventoux on their bicycles. A tragic accident claims the life of one of them, the promising poet Peter. Thirty years later, the others find themselves travelling into their past, with their racing bicycles strapped to the car roof, and their inner demons trailing behind them, off to the Provence again. What exactly happened on that mountain thirty years ago, and why are they going back?

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Charles den Tex •
Mr. Miller

Michael Bellicher, a successful consultant, has everything going for him. During a night spent at work, he witnesses something he should never have seen. Michael has to flee to escape the conspiracy. But with every step he takes, he is followed by the mysterious Mr. Miller, who seems to know everything about him. Slowly but surely, Michael discovers how much of his life is ruled by technology. Will he ever regain control over his life?

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Golnaz Hashemzadeh •
She is Not Me

1980
s Sweden. An Iranian family has reached safety after years in hiding. But when the parents’ visions of a new life in the northern land of freedom disintegrate in the face of harsh reality, it is their daughter who must carry the family’s dreams on her narrow shoulders. She reaches the top, fighting racism and prejudice along the way. But behind this perfect façade, she slowly loses control over both her health and happiness. Is this really what her family’s dream was about?

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Marina Stepnova •
The Women of Lazarus

The Women of Lazarus
is a mesmerizing story of love, loss and human genius. The story starts just after the Russian Revolution, when the highly gifted student Lazar Lindt arrives in Moscow carrying with him nothing but lice and a notebook.
The Women of Lazarus
tells a part of Lazar’s life story, following three important women in it: his mentor’s wife, his own young wife and their granddaughter. Set against the background of the twentieth century, Moscow and the fictional city of Ensk, Marina Stepnova describes the history of an exceptional family in a turbulent country.

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Jolien Janzing •
Charlotte Brontë’s Secret Love

Charlotte Brontë, a parson’s daughter from Yorkshire, longs for adventure. She conceives the idea of going abroad to study languages and persuades her sister Emily to accompany her to Brussels. This Catholic yet worldly capital comes as quite a culture shock for the Brontë sisters. In Madame Heger’s elegant boarding house, amongst many wealthy and spoilt young ladies, Charlotte and Emily try to stay true to themselves. But then Charlotte falls in love with her teacher, Constantin Heger, the man of the house…

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Annelies Verbeke •
Assumptions

Assumptions
challenges the readers to confront their own assumptions and prejudices. Characters appear and reappear throughout the book, creating connections within the narrative. Presented as a novel-in-stories,
Assumptions
displays how people often believe they know more than they actually do.

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Tom Lanoye •
Fortunate Slaves

Two doppelgänger exiles—both, curiously, named Tony Hanssen—are on the run from the lies and deceit that have defined their lives. When they accidentally meet up, they realise that each could hold the solution to the other’s problems. An allegory of the global economic crisis and of the identity conflict of modern man,
Fortunate Slaves
is a moral and picaresque novel that is both entertaining and thought-provoking. Just how far will desperate men sink to achieve their aims?

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Yue Tao •
Shanghai Blue

When Lan comes home to Shanghai after ten years in Europe she finds the city enigmatic: people she knew from childhood seem odd—her own identity is a mystery. An adopted orphan, she tries to locate her biological parents, but everyone who could help is evasive. Her only clue is cricket fighting—a millennium-old Chinese pastime turned gambling racket where the nouveaux riches meet the underworld by night. The deeper she digs into her own mystery, the more obscure and sinister it becomes. The truth takes her by surprise after an illicit encounter on New Year’s Eve: the past is unspeakably worse than she thought—and it is not even past.