January Preview: The Best International Fiction & Non-fiction

The Woman in the Window | A.J. Finn

‘The Woman in the Window is one of those rare books that really is unputdownable. The writing is smooth and often remarkable. The way Finn plays off this totally original story against a background of film noir is both delightful and chilling’ ~ Stephen King

As a person suffering from agoraphobia, Anna Fox’s world has been limited to glasses of wine, noir films and the walls of her home in Manhattan. Anna’s only lifeline to the outside world is her window through which she peers day after day. When the Russells move in, Anna is instantly drawn towards the picture-perfect family. However, an encounter with sixteen-year-old Ethan Russell leads her to believe otherwise.

One evening, Anna witnesses something she should not have seen, confirming her suspicions. But will she be able to convince others, given her penchant for alcohol and fear to step out of her home to gather proof?

(Plus: A.J. Finn has written for numerous publications, including the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and the Times Literary Supplement. The Woman in the Window is his debut novel and has already been sold in thirty-eight territories worldwide and is in development as a major motion picture from Fox.)

Crushing It!  How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence-and How You Can, Too | Gary Vaynerchuk

From Gary Vaynerchuk, the prolific angel investor, venture capitalist and four-time New York Times bestselling author of the Crush It!, the entrepreneurial guide that assisted numerous start-ups in achieving their goal of financial success, comes yet another handy manual on how to make it big in the big bad world of business.

Narrating the success stories that emerged from following the tips in Crush It! and offering theoretical and tactical advice to replicate them, Crushing It! captures the nuances of mastering the art of creating your own niche space on well established social media platforms such as YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and Snapchat, as well as on upcoming ones like Musical.ly.

If you have an upcoming business, then Crushing It! is definitely the book for you.

Rumi’s Secret:  The Life of the Sufi Poet of Love | Brad Gooch

Rumi’s poems have revealed the secrets of life to many a reader across centuries. His life, however, has always been shrouded in enigma – how he came to be a scholar, the role of Shams of Tabriz in his life – questions that have been left unanswered.

Brad Gooch seeks to unravel these mysteries through the ambitious, bold and beautifully written Rumi’s Secret, describing Rumi’s earthly and heavenly devotion and dedication to the ‘religion of love’.

Brad Gooch is the author of the acclaimed biographies City Poet and Flannery: A Life of Flannery O’Connor, as well as other nonfiction and three novels. The recipient of the National Endowment for the Humanities and Guggenheim fellowships, he earned his PhD at Columbia University and is a professor of English at William Paterson University in New Jersey.

Bones: A Story of Brothers, a Champion Horse and the Race to Stop America’s Most Brutal Cartel | Joe Tone

‘Riveting …Working with rich material, Tone constructs a powerful narrative that reveals tensions of class and race – and unbreakable family bonds’ ~ National Book Review

Two brothers build their lives on either side of the US-Mexican border. What happens when they get embroiled in a larger-than-life criminal conspiracy?

José Treviño earns a modest living as a bricklayer in Texas, while his brother Miguel has risen to the top of the ranks of the fearsome Los Zetas cartel. When José bids close to a million dollars for a horse at an auction, the humble bricklayer catches the eye of FBI agent, Scott Lawson. Lawson enlisted Tyler Graham, the young American rancher breeding José’s champion horse – nicknamed Huesos, or Bones – to infiltrate what he suspected was a major money laundering operation. The goal: capture Miguel Treviño.

Bones has a gripping narrative set amongst the high-stakes world of horse racing, violent drug cartels and drug cops, revealing how greed and fear mingle with race, class and violence along the vast Southwest border.

Change Your Schedule, Change Your Life:  How to Harness the Power of Clock Genes to Lose Weight, Optimize Your Workout, and Finally Get a Good Night’s Sleep | Dr Suhas Kshirsagar

The rhythm of life is more important than we think it to be. Skipping a meal, squeezing in workouts when it is convenient, staying awake late trying to pull an all-nighter can have far more disturbing effects than we could possibly imagine.

Change Your Schedule, Change Your Life by Dr Suhas Kshirsagar gives you an insight into how these lifestyle patterns affect you and provides a step-by-step guide to develop a schedule to lead a healthy life by blending tips from the world of science and Ayurveda.

Dr Kshirsagar is a world-renowned Ayurvedic physician and educator, known for his book The Hot Belly Diet. He holds a doctorate with a gold medal from the Pune University and is the director of the Ayurvedic Healing and Integrative Wellness Clinic in Northern California, advisor and consultant at the Chopra Center and a faculty member at several Ayurvedic institutions.

Life of Crime | Kimberley Chambers

Sunday Times #1 bestselling author Kimberley Chambers delivers yet another gritty tale of crime and passion that will leave you stunned.

Melissa thinks she has struck gold when she marries the handsome and rich Jason. But that is not all there is to the guy. Leading a life of crime, Jason wants to pull off one last job to sort out their lives. But will he be able to do so? Will Melissa be able to deal with the constant fear of her husband being snatched away from her one day?

Fragile Lives: A Heart Surgeon’s Stories of Life and Death on the Operating Table | Stephen Westaby

Grim Reaper sits on the heart surgeon’s shoulder. A slip of the hand and life ebbs away.

In this book, Dr Stephen Westaby chronicles the most remarkable and poignant cases from his thirty-five-year old long career, such as the baby who had suffered multiple heart attacks by six months old, a woman who lived the nightmare of locked-in syndrome, and a man whose life was powered by a battery for eight years.

A powerful, important and incredibly moving book, Fragile Lives offers an exceptional insight into the exhilarating and sometimes tragic world of heart surgery, and how it feels to hold someone’s life in your hands.

Three Things About Elsie | Joanna Cannon

‘Cannon specialises, beautifully, in making concrete the abstract … a superior debut’ ~ Sunday Times

When eighty-four-year-old Florence Claybourne suffers a nasty fall at her home in Cherry Tree Home for the Elderly, her life flashes before her eyes. As she waits for the ambulance to come, Florence is disturbed by the thought of one of the new residents resembling a man who died more than half a century ago and the possibility of an age-old secret being revealed – a secret she has shared with her best friend, Elsie. Elsie always knows what to say and what to do. But who is Elsie?

A heart-warming, beautiful novel about friendship, love and reconciling with the past, Joanna Cannon manages to win hearts all over with Three Things About Elsie.

The Last Mrs Parrish | Liv Constantine

Amber Patterson is tired of living the life of a nobody. It is high time she got everything she deserves – money, fame, glamour, luxury and leisure.

Daphne Parrish is the prima donna of Bishops Harbour, Connecticut. With her modelesque looks, palatial house and millionaire husband Jackson, Daphne is the woman Amber desires to be. And now she will!

As she works her way into Daphne life, becoming her closest confidante and getting noticed by Jackson, Amber starts living the life she had always wanted. But she harbours a dark secret – one that could ruin all her plans if discovered.

Deliciously dark, The Last Mrs Parrish is the perfect psychological thriller for fans of Liane Moriarty and Shari Lappena.

Liv Constantine is the pen name of sisters Lynne Constantine and Valerie Constantine. The Last Mrs Parrish is their debut novel.

This Idea Is Brilliant:  Lost, Overlooked, and Underappreciated Scientific Concepts Everyone Should Know | John Brockman

An anthology of the views of 206 of the world’s most innovative thinkers who sit down to answer the question, What scientific term or concept ought to be more widely known?

Featuring a wide range of contributors such as Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, McArthur Fellow Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, theoretical physicist Lawrence M Krauss, musician Brain Eno and topics such as ‘scientific realism’, ‘relative information’, and ‘confirmation bias’, This Idea is Brilliant succinctly covers scientific issues that everyone should know.

How to Fall in Love with a Man Who Lives in a Bush | Emmy Abrahamson, Translated by: Nichola Smalley

Julia is looking for Mr Right, but Ben is more Mr Right-Now-He-Could-Do-With-a-Bath

When desperate for love, disaster date magnet Julia meets the tall, dark and handsome Ben, it seems like a match made in heaven. Only Ben is incredibly hairy, barefoot, smells like overripe fruit and is homeless in reality. As most love stories go, they do fall in love, but will their love be able to survive despite their differences? Will Julia be able to choose between her head and her heart?

Emmy Abrahamson was nominated for the August Prize in 2012 for her novel, The Only Way is Up (Only väg is upp). She met her husband when he was actually living in a bush and her debut novel for adults is a fictionalized account of their story.

Brave | Rose McGowan

As a Hollywood actress, music artist and entrepreneur, Rose McGowan sure dons a lot of hats. But it is her role as an activist and whistleblower that defines her the most.

Born into the cult of the Children of God, Rose McGowan shares the story of how she escaped abusive parents, only to land up homeless in Los Angeles and then her harrowing stint as a popular Hollywood actress, who was packaged as a sexualized bombshell for the entertainment of others.

Raw and fierce, Brave is a no-holds-barred, no-punch-held-back account of a woman who lost her identity at the altar of fame and re-emerged from the ashes stronger than ever. Describing incidents that led to the infamous Harvey Weinstein scandal among other incidents of misogyny, Rose McGowan attempts to call out the fat cats of the film industry who have been preying on women for ages.

The books listed above are available at all leading bookstores.

HCI