From Havana to Tokyo, from Oslo to Alexandria, from Lahore to Paris, these 10 books (8 in translation and 2 about far-off cities) are a good introduction to the world of international fiction and translated fiction, to different cities around the world and their offerings of danger, edge, vice and energy.
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The Alexandria Quartet
By Lawrence Durrell
The Alexandria Quartet explores the sexual and political intrigues of a group of expatriates in Egypt before and after the Second World War
Read our review of The Alexandria Quartet -
Burma Chronicles
By Guy Delisle
These short vignettes by Delisle are comedic and warm accounts of a country shrouded in tight governmental secrecy
Read our review of Burma Chronicles -
City of God
By Paulo Lins
Based on a true story, this is a sprawling, magnificently told epic about the history of gang life in Rio's favelas.
Read our review of City of God -
Dirty Havana Trilogy
By Pedro Juan Gutirrez
We learn more about Havana in these concise pages than we do in most travel guides
Read our review of Dirty Havana Trilogy -
Dreams from the Endz
By Faiza Guene
An engaging snapshot of a rarely seen part of the city, through the eyes of an angry and inspiring young heroine.
Read our review of Dreams from the Endz -
Gomorrah
By Roberto Saviano
Gomorrah is both a bold and engrossing piece of investigative writing and one heroic young man's impassioned story of a place under the rule of a murderous organisation
Read our review of Gomorrah -
The Half Brother
By Lars Saabye Christensen
Barnum seems to have stopped growing, while his half-brother, frustrated by learning difficulties, is sent away to a special school.
Read our review of The Half-Brother -
Moth Smoke
By Mohsin Hamid
This startling debut by Mohsin Hamid is a tightly packed exploration of Lahore’s down and outers
Read our review of Moth Smoke -
Norweigan Wood
By Haruki Murakami
Like Proust’s Madeleine cake, the Beatles song of the title sets off a wave of memories for the narrator, Toru Watanabe as his remembers his teenage relationships with fragile first love Naoko and impetuous and unpredictable Midori.
Read our review of Norweigan Wood -
The System of Vienna
By Gert Jonke
The System of Vienna reminds us that the very act of describing a life turns it into fiction
Read our review of The System of Vienna
