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Recommendations based on Salmon Fishing in the Yemenby Paul Torday
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
The Ghost
by Robert Harris
A thriller story of political intrigue and conspiracy, where a ghostwriter must unravel a web of secrets.
Most of the action takes place on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts , where Lang has been holed up in the holiday home of his billionaire American publisher to turn out his memoirs on a deadline. ... (Wikipedia)
On Chesil Beach
by Ian McEwan
A young couple's journey through a difficult, yet passionate, wedding night.
In July 1962, Edward Mayhew, a graduate student of history, and Florence Ponting, a violinist of a string quartet, have just been married and are spending their honeymoon in a small hotel on the ... (Wikipedia)
Disgrace
by J.M. Coetzee
A professor's fall from grace in post-apartheid South Africa, reckoning with the consequences of his actions.
David Lurie is a South African professor of English who loses everything: his reputation, his job, his peace of mind, his dreams of artistic success, and finally even his ability to protect his own ... (Wikipedia)
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
by Jonas Jonasson
An adventurous old man escapes a nursing home for an unexpected journey of self-discovery.
Allan Karlsson is about to celebrate his hundredth birthday, and his retirement home in Malmköping is planning to throw a party. Allan is not interested. Instead, he climbs out the window and ... (Wikipedia)
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
by Marina Lewycka
A humorous tale of two sisters dealing with their father's marriage to a much younger woman.
The novel describes the reactions of two daughters when their widowed, 84-year-old father Nikolai marries a highly sexual and much younger Ukrainian immigrant, Valentina. Concerned about Valentina’s ... (Wikipedia)
The Day of the Triffids
by John Wyndham
A post-apocalyptic world overrun by carnivorous plants, exploring themes of survival and morality.
In 1951 John Wyndham published his novel The Day of the Triffids to moderate acclaim. Fifty-two years later, this horrifying story is a science fiction classic, touted by The Times (London) as having ... (Goodreads)
Rachel's Holiday
by Marian Keyes
Rachel's addiction to drugs and alcohol leads her to rehab, where she confronts her past and learns to face her present.
Meet Rachel Walsh. She has a pair of size 8 feet and such a fondness for recreational drugs that her family has forked out the cash for a spell in Cloisters – Dublin’s answer to the Betty Ford ... (Goodreads)
The Children Act
by Ian McEwan
A family court judge must make a difficult decision between the law and her conscience.
Fiona Maye is a respected High Court Judge specialising in Family Law and living in Gray's Inn Square. While reviewing a case, she is approached by her husband, Jack, who tells her that because of ... (Wikipedia)
Cloud Atlas
by David Mitchell
A dynamic narrative spanning centuries, exploring the interconnectedness of humanity.
The book consists of six nested stories; each is read or observed by a main character of the next, thus they progress in time through the central sixth story. The first five stories are each ... (Wikipedia)
The Feast of the Goat
by Mario Vargas Llosa
A political thriller exploring a dictatorship in the Dominican Republic.
The novel's narrative is divided into three distinct strands. One is centred on Urania Cabral, a fictional Dominican character; another deals with the conspirators involved in Trujillo's ... (Wikipedia)
The Whisperer
by Donato Carrisi
An Italian detective's investigation into a series of mysterious disappearances.
A gripping literary thriller and smash bestseller that has taken Italy, France, Germany and the UK by storm. Six severed arms are discovered, arranged in a mysterious circle and buried in a clearing ... (Goodreads)
Archangel
by Robert Harris
A British historian uncovers a secret Stalin-era plot to create a puppet monarch in Russia. The past and present collide in a thrilling tale of espionage and betrayal.
While attending a conference in Moscow , historian Christopher "Fluke" Kelso is met by an old man named Papu Rapava, who claims to have been present at the death of Joseph Stalin . Immediately after ... (Wikipedia)
Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married
by Marian Keyes
A woman's journey of self-discovery and romance, while trying to find her path in life.
What happens when a psychic tells Lucy that she'll be getting married within the year? Her roommates panic! What is going to happen to their blissful existence of eating take-out, drinking too much ... (Goodreads)
Every Man Dies Alone
by Hans Fallada
A man and his wife struggle to resist Nazi oppression in 1940s Berlin.
Inspired by a true story, Hans Fallada's Alone in Berlin is the gripping tale of an ordinary man's determination to defy the tyranny of Nazi rule. This Penguin Classics edition contains an afterword ... (Goodreads)
The Reader
by Bernhard Schlink
A man's journey of understanding, uncovering a dark secret from his past.
Hailed for its coiled eroticism and the moral claims it makes upon the reader, this mesmerizing novel is a story of love and secrets, horror and compassion, unfolding against the haunted landscape of ... (Goodreads)
Blackberry Wine
by Joanne Harris
An exploration of the power of memory and imagination, as a man seeks to recreate his childhood.
Writer Jay Mackintosh is suffering from writer's block. Having reached his artistic zenith with the award-winning 'Jackapple Joe', a novel published 10 years ago, he has failed to duplicate his ... (Wikipedia)
The Piano Tuner
by Daniel Mason
A piano tuner is sent to Burma in the late 1800s to repair a rare piano for an eccentric British officer. He becomes embroiled in political intrigue and a forbidden love affair.
In 1886 a shy, middle-aged piano tuner named Edgar Drake receives an unusual commission from the British War Office: to travel to the remote jungles of northeast Burma and there repair a rare piano ... (Goodreads)
Twenties Girl
by Sophie Kinsella
A young woman's life is turned upside down when the ghost of her great-aunt Sadie appears, demanding her help in finding a missing necklace.
Lara is a twenty-seven-year-old girl. At the funeral of her great-aunt Sadie, she gets visited by her ghost , in form of a bold, demanding, Charleston-dancing girl. Sadie has one particular request: ... (Wikipedia)
Enigma
by Robert Harris
A thrilling tale of espionage and code-breaking during World War II.
In February 1943, Tom Jericho, a gifted cryptanalyst at Bletchley Park , is recuperating in Cambridge from a nervous breakdown brought on by the pressures of work and the breakup of his relationship ... (Wikipedia)
The Quiet American
by Graham Greene
A journalist's exploration of a conflict between a French colonial regime and Vietnamese nationalists.
Thomas Fowler is a British journalist in his fifties who has covered the French war in Vietnam for more than two years. He meets a young American idealist named Alden Pyle, a CIA agent working ... (Wikipedia)
The Secret Speech
by Tom Rob Smith
Set in 1956 Soviet Union, a former secret police officer is forced to confront his past and the consequences of his actions.
Former state security officer Leo Demidov is struggling to change as the Soviet Union changes around him. The two young girls he adopted have yet to forgive him for his part in the death of their ... (Goodreads)
The Bone Season
by Samantha Shannon
An epic fantasy about a group of resistance fighters fighting against a powerful, oppressive regime.
The year is 2059. Nineteen-year-old Paige Mahoney is working in the criminal underworld of Scion London, based at Seven Dials, employed by a man named Jaxon Hall. Her job: to scout for information by ... (Wikipedia)
The White Tiger
by Aravind Adiga
An exploration of the Indian class system, told from the perspective of a lower-caste man.
The entire novel is narrated through letters by Balram Halwai to the Premier of China, who will soon be visiting India. Balram is an Indian man from an impoverished background, born in the village of ... (Wikipedia)
The Muse
by Jessie Burton
A young woman's exploration of identity and artistry, set in the 1960s England and Spain.
From the #1 internationally bestselling author of, The Miniaturist, comes a captivating and brilliantly realized story of two young women—a Caribbean immigrant in 1960s London, and a bohemian woman ... (Barnes & Noble)
Atonement
by Ian McEwan
A tale of the consequences of a child's mistake, and how its effects ripple through generations.
Briony Tallis, a 13-year-old English girl with a talent for writing, lives at her family's country estate with her parents Jack and Emily Tallis. Her older sister Cecilia has recently graduated from ... (Wikipedia)
Watermelon
by Marian Keyes
Claire's life falls apart when her husband leaves her for a younger woman, but a trip to her family in Ireland helps her find herself again.
At twenty-nine, Claire has everything she ever wanted: a boyfriend she adores, a great apartment, a good job. Then, on the day she gives birth to her first baby, James visits her in the recovery room ... (Wikipedia)
A Spot of Bother
by Mark Haddon
A middle-aged man's struggle to overcome his anxieties and accept the changes in his life.
The novel follows George Hall, a 57-year-old hypochondriac , and his family following George's retirement from a career manufacturing playground equipment. George has hypochondria, an excessive ... (Wikipedia)
The Island
by Victoria Hislop
A family's secrets unfold as they grapple with the consequences of the Greek Civil War.
On the brink of a life-changing decision, Alexis Fielding longs to find out about her mother's past. But Sofia has never spoken of it. All she admits to is growing up in a small Cretan village before ... (Goodreads)
Restless
by William Boyd
A thrilling spy novel of international espionage, secrets, and espionage.
Eva, a young Russian woman, is recruited after her brother's death to work for the British secret service . During this time she falls for her mentor and boss, Lucas Romer. But all is not as it seems ... (Wikipedia)
Into the Darkest Corner
by Elizabeth Haynes
Woman's struggle to escape her abusive past, and reclaim control of her life.
When young, pretty Catherine Bailey meets Lee Brightman, she can't believe her luck. Gorgeous, charismatic Lee seems almost too perfect to be true. But what begins as flattering attention and ... (Barnes & Noble)
