Popular European Magical Realism Books
Find magical realism books written by authors from Europe for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (41)
31.
The Saga of Gosta Berling by Selma Lagerlof EN
SwedenDescription:
The first new English translation in more than one hundred years of the Swedish Gone with the Wind A Penguin Classic In 1909, Selma Lagerlöf became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Saga of Gösta Berling is her first and best-loved novel—and the basis for the 1924 silent film of the same name that launched Greta Garbo into stardom. A defrocked minister, Gösta Berling finds a home at Ekeby, an ironworks estate that also houses and assortment of eccentric veterans of the Napoleanic Wars. His defiant and poetic spirit proves magnetic to a string of women, who fall under hi... continue
32.
The Stone Raft by José Saramago EN
PortugalDescription:
One day a rift opens along the border between Spain and France, and the Iberian peninsula floats off across the Atlantic, a great stone raft. But what of the floating population? While the tourists and investors flee, the Spanish and Portuguese escape the coast and wander the inland roads.
33.
The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht EN
SerbiaDescription:
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Spectacular . . . [Téa Obreht] spins a tale of such marvel and magic in a literary voice so enchanting that the mesmerized reader wants her never to stop.”—Entertainment Weekly Look for Téa Obreht’s second novel, Inland, now available. NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times • Entertainment Weekly • The Christian Science Monitor • The Kansas City Star • Library Journal Weaving a brilliant latticework of family legend, loss, and love, Téa Obreht, the youngest of The New Yorker’s twenty best A... continue
34.
The Tin Drum by Günter Grass EN
PolandDescription:
ONE OF TWELVE TITLES IN VINTAGE'S A FORMAT WAR PROMOTION The publication of The Tin Drum in 1959 launched Gunther Grass as an author of international repute. Bitter and impassioned, it delivers a scathing dissection of the years from 1925 to 1955 through the eyes of Oskar Matzerath, the dwarf whose manic beating on the toy of his retarded childhood fantastically counterpoints the accumulating horrors of Germany and Poland under the Nazis.
35.
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame EN
Country: Europe / 
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Description:
One of the most celebrated and beloved works of literature ever written for young readers Meek little Mole, wilful Ratty, Badger the perennial bachelor, and petulant, boastful Toad: over one hundred years since their first appearance in 1908, they've become emblematic archetypes of eccentricity, folly and friendship. And their misadventures - in gypsy caravans, stolen sports cars, and their beloved Wild Wood - continue to capture readers' imaginations and warm their hearts long after they grow up. Begun as a series of letters from Kenneth Grahame to his son, The Wind in the Willows is a timele... continue
36.
They Will Drown in Their Mothers' Tears by Johannes Anyuru EN
Description:
This daring speculative novel tackles terrorism and anti-immigrant hysteria, combining lyric intensity with the tools of science fiction.
37.
GermanyDescription:
The New York Times Best Historical Fiction of 2020 The Guardian's Best Fiction of 2020 Thrillist's Best Books of the Year Daniel Kehlmann transports the medieval legend of the trickster Tyll Ulenspiegel to the seventeenth century in an enchanting work of magical realism, macabre humor, and rollicking adventure. Tyll is a scrawny boy growing up in a quiet village until his father, a miller with a forbidden interest in alchemy and magic, is found out by the church. After Tyll flees with the baker’s daughter, he falls in with a traveling performer who teaches him his trade. As a juggler and a jes... continue
38.
Walker on Water by Kristiina Ehin EN
EstoniaDescription:
A woman cultivates a knack for walking on water, but is undermined by her husband's brain, which he removes each night when he returns home from work; a couple overcomes the irksome mischief of the gods; a skeptical dragon wonders what sex is all about: this is the world of Kristiina Ehin. From the 2007 British Poetry Society Popescu prize winner for European poetry in translation: a series of comic, surreal adventures. Kristiina Ehin's quirky voice takes each story directly from the dream state, at times stubborn and resistant, at other times masochistically compliant. Ehin offers up modern f... continue
39.
What You Can See From Here by Mariana Leky EN
Description:
“I loved this novel truly, madly, deeply.” —Nina George, bestselling author of The Book of Dreams and The Little Paris Bookshop In this international bestseller by the award-winning novelist Mariana Leky, a heartwarming story unfolds about a small town, a grandmother whose dreams foretell a coming death, and the young woman forever changed by these losses and her loving, endearingly oddball community On a beautiful spring day, a small village wakes up to an omen: Selma has dreamed of an okapi. Someone is about to die. Luisa, Selma’s ten-year-old granddaughter, looks on as the predictable chara... continue
40.
When I Sing, Mountains Dance by Irene Solà EN
SpainDescription:
Sol?'s vivid and magical tale, winner of the European Union Prize, brings to life a small Pyrenees village. The story begins when a farmer is killed by a lightning strike during a storm, leaving his wife, Si?, a widowed mother to a daughter, Mia, and a two-month-old son, Hilari. When Mia grows up, she falls in love with Jaume, the son of "Giants," who are stigmatized for their size as well as lack of education and rough manner. After Jaume accidentally kills Hilari in a hunting accident, he's jailed while he awaits his trial for murder, and Mia is left alone to live her life in the mountains w... continue