Pip Williams’—The dictionary of lost words *****

Motherless Esme hides under a desk in the Scriptorium where her father works surrounded by words. He is one of the lexicographers working on words to include in the first Oxford English Dictionary. When careless lexicographers drop chits, Esme collects the words and their meanings written on pieces of paper and hides them in a trunk. As the years pass, she comes to realize that many words are excluded because the lexicographers believe words for the dictionary should have written examples. So begins Esme’s personal research, collecting excluded words—words of profanity, words commonly used only by women but not men—words she hears in the markets. But what will she do with her collection and how will her life change once she begins working in the Scriptorium? A fascinating tale inspired by the lexicographers who actually worked on producing the first English dictionary back in the late 1800s.

Sandrine Collette’s—The Forests ******

At age five, Corentin is foisted on to his great-grandmother, Augustine by his unloving mother whom he never sees again. He grows up in a small village surrounded by trees, but when he’s older leaves for university where he becomes enchanted by city life. The days grow hotter, and droughts become more common until one day, the earth seems to explode. Corentin and his university friends stay hold up underground until they believe enough time has passed for them to reemerge. Above ground, everything appears to be destroyed and all Corentin can think about is returning to Augustine. Will she still be alive? Will the charred trees ever come back to life? Will they ever be able to safely drink water from a stream again?

John Pomfret’s—Chinese Lessons*****

After Mao’s brutal reign, Pomfret arrives in China at the beginning of the 1980s to attend Nanjing University when China first began opening to the west. In cramped living quarters with other students from different parts of China, the author gains detailed access to the lives of his classmates and how they and their families endured the cultural revolution. Pomfret graduates and his only wish is to return. As a reporter he arrives back in China, but when he reports on the Tiananmen Square massacre, he is expelled from the country. All the while, he keeps in contact with his university classmates and follows the direction of their lives that reveals the economic changes happening in a system still corrupt, censored, and controlled by the Party that silences anyone who opposes it.

Omar El Akkad’s—What strange paradise *****

Amir’s uncle accompanies his family from Syria to Alexandria. But late one night, Amir creeps out of their apartment and follows his uncle who climbs on to a boat. He too ends up on the boat full of desperate passengers fleeing their homes. After Amir is washed ashore on a strange island, he flees the scene chased by soldiers. Vanna, a local teenager, sees him dashing towards her and hides him in their hayloft. But can she protect him from Colonel Kethros who is determined to detain the child in the camp with the rest of the refugees who have washed up on the island?