Popular European Domestic Fiction Books
Find domestic fiction books written by authors from Europe for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (40)
1.
A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing : A Novel by Eimear McBride EN
IrelandDescription:
The dazzling, fearless debut novel that won the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction and the book the New York Times hails as “a future classic”. In scathing, furious, unforgettable prose, Eimear McBride tells the story of a young girl’s devastating adolescence as she and her brother, who suffers from a brain tumor, struggle for a semblance of normalcy in the shadow of sexual abuse, denial, and chaos at home. Plunging readers inside the psyche of a girl isolated by her own dangerously confusing sexuality, pervading guilt, and unrelenting trauma, McBride’s writing carries echoes of Joyce, O’Brien,... continue
2.
A Girl Returned by Donatella Di Pietrantonio EN
ItalyDescription:
"Told with an immediacy and a rare expressive intensity that has earned it countless adoring readers and one of Italy's most prestigious literary prizes, A Girl Returned marks the English-language debut of an extraordinary literary talent. Set against the stark, beautiful landscape of Abruzzo in central Italy, this is a compelling story about mothers and daughters, about responsibility, siblings, and caregiving. Without warning or explanation, an unnamed 13-year-old girl is sent away from the family she has always thought of as hers to live with her birth family: a large, chaotic assortment of... continue
3.
A Replacement Life : A Novel by Boris Fishman EN
BelarusDescription:
Winner of the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award Winner of the American Library Association's Sophie Brody Medal Finalist for the National Jewish Book Award A singularly talented writer makes his literary debut with this provocative, soulful, and sometimes hilarious story of a failed journalist asked to do the unthinkable: Forge Holocaust-restitution claims for old Russian Jews in Brooklyn, New York. Yevgeny Gelman, grandfather of Slava Gelman, “didn’t suffer in the exact way” he needs to have suffered to qualify for the restitution the German government has been paying out to Holocaust survivors... continue
4.
A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy EN
Description:
The Sheedy sisters had lived in Stone House for as long as anyone could remember. Set high on the cliffs on the west coast of Ireland, overlooking the windswept Atlantic Ocean, it was falling into disrepair - until one woman, with a past she needed to forget, breathed new life into the place. Now a hotel, with a big warm kitchen and log fires, it provides a welcome few can resist. Winnie is generally able to make the best of things, until she finds herself on the holiday from hell. John arrived on an impulse after he missed a flight at Shannon. And then there's Henry and Nicola, burdened with ... continue
5.
Am Gletscher by Halldór Laxness DE
IcelandDescription:
Ein Pfarrhaus in nordischer Gletschereinsamkeit ist der Schauplatz dieses ironisch-weisen Romans des isländischen Nobelpreisträgers Halldor Laxness. Ein junger Theologe, vom Bischof zur Aufklärung mysteriöser Vorfälle dorthin entsandt, sieht sich mit Reden und Taten konfrontiert, die er nicht versteht. Die bodenständige Esoterik der Einheimischen lässt sich mit seinem Tonbandgerät nicht einfangen, und die frappierende, humane Logik des Lebens am Gletscher ist so offenbar, dass sie leicht übersehen werden kann. Es ist dieselbe Logik, die auch die Sag... continue
6.
An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen EN
NorwayDescription:
"In one of his most provocative essays, Ibsen offers a rebuke to the Victorian notion of community as well as to the blessings of democracy. His An Enemy of the People creates a situation in which one must stand alone to face the forces allied against him." "In a coastal town, a community-minded physician has promoted the development of public baths in order to attract tourists. When he discovers that the water supply for the baths is contaminated and attempts to publicize the failing and correct it, he encounters political cowards, sold-out journalists, shortsighted armchair economists, and a... continue
7.
Brightly Shining by Ingvild Rishøi EN
Description:
"Beautifully told with humor and tenderness, a Norwegian Christmas tale of sisterhood, financial hardship, and far-off dreams, acclaimed by reviewers and beloved by readers across Europe, where it has been a bestseller. Christmas is just around the corner, and Ronja and Melissa's dreamer of a father is out of work again. When ten-year-old Ronja hears about a job selling Christmas trees near where the family lives in central Oslo, she thinks it might be the stroke of luck they all need. Soon, the fridge fills with food, and their father returns home with money in his pocket and a smile on his f... continue
8.
Catilinaires : by Amélie Nothomb FR
BelgiumDescription:
La solitude à deux, tel était le rêve d'Emile et de Juliette. Une maison au fond des bois pour y finir leurs jours, l'un près de l'autre. Etrangement, cette parfaite thébaïde comportait un voisin. Un nommé Palamède Bernardin, qui d'abord est venu se présenter, puis a pris l'habitude de s'incruster chez eux chaque après-midi, de quatre à six heures. Sans dire un mot, ou presque. Et cette présence absurde va peu à peu devenir plus dérangeante pour le couple que toutes les foules du monde... C'est une comédie très noire, d'une lucidité tour à tour drôle et dévastatrice, que nous offre ici la roma... continue
9.
Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran EN
Country: Europe / 
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Description:
Welcome to Cinnamon Gardens, a home for those who are lost and the stories they treasure. Cinnamon Gardens Nursing Home is nestled in the quiet suburb of Westgrove, Sydney - populated with residents with colourful histories, each with their own secrets, triumphs and failings. This is their safe place, an oasis of familiar delights - a beautiful garden, a busy kitchen and a bountiful recreation schedule. But this ordinary neighbourhood is not without its prejudices. The serenity of Cinnamon Gardens is threatened by malignant forces more interested in what makes this refuge different rather than... continue
10.
Een revolverschot by Virginie Loveling NL
Description:
Een revolverschot heeft de noodlottige liefde van twee zusters voor dezelfde man als thema.
De roman laat de lezer weinig illusies. Toeval en noodlot regeren het menselijke bestaan en erfelijk bepaalde animale driften, steeds latent aanwezig ondanks ieders goede eigenschappen, bedreigen de broze humaniteit.
Opvallend aan deze sterke, stevig gebouwde roman is dat geen enkel detail, geen enkel nevenpersonage los staat van de centrale handeling. Meesterlijk is de vondst om het dramatische gebeuren te laten plaatsvinden tegen een speelse luchtige achtergrond, waardoor het contrast tussen de bana... continue