A Passage North is an exquisite novel from Sri Lankan Tamil novelist Anuk Arudpragasam. The novel recounts the complex thoughts of Krishan as he travels from Colombo to a village in northern Sri Lanka to attend the funeral of Rani, his grandmother’s former caretaker.
Almond is a debut novel by South Korean novelist Won-Pyung Sohn. Set in contemporary time in Seoul, it is a coming of age story of Yunjae who was born with Alexithymia, a brain condition which makes him difficult to identify and express emotions.
In his debut novel State of Emergency, Jeremy Tiang offers a slice of Singapore’s history that is less discussed by people. This historical fiction delves into the tempestuous time of leftist movements and political detentions in Singapore and Malaysia.
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje tells the stories of four characters: the eponymous protagonist, a Canadian nurse, a Sikh British Army sapper, and a Canadian thief. The novel sets primarily in a small villa near Florence, Italy during the Italian Campaign of World War II.
Essence isa Burmese novel by Ye Wint Thu is story of a guy in his late twenties and his emerging adulthood. Weaving through his own thoughts and the conversations with his two close friends, it tells a very common contemporary adult life but with a dash of supernatural elements.
The Garden of Words is a novelisation of a 2013 animated film of the same name written and directed by Makoto Shinkai. Translated to English by Taylor Engel, it is a story of two lonely souls finding comfort in the company of one another after running into in a garden on a rainy day.