by Rebecca Hussey

Traces of Enayat – Iman Mersal

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It is not Mersal’s task, she decides, to tell Enayat’s story, but to be in dialogue with her, as much as such a thing is possible. Her task is “to take a journey towards someone who cannot speak for themselves.”

Ladivine – Marie NDiaye

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Into this web of familial discontent and uncertainty enter those mysterious dogs.

One Hundred Twenty-One Days – Michèle Audin

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In fact, the historian admits defeat.

Now and At the Hour of Our Death – Susana Moreira Marques

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Moreira Marques captures something essential about death in her book’s first half by touching only lightly on the specifics of the people she encounters, and rarely mentioning herself.

Home – Leila Chudori

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The figure of the flâneur is generally a de-politicized one; it is typically a man who observes the world from a safe, distanced, detached perspective.

Loving Day – Mat Johnson

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Warren has always identified as black, although he could easily be mistaken for white. His daughter has been raised Jewish but now learns of her own black identity.

Dear Thief – Samantha Harvey

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Letters offer both an emotional intimacy and an intellectual challenge that can be hard to resist.

Apocalypse Baby – Virginie Despentes

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Solving a missing person case is more a matter of waiting for that person to connect back to the grid, even for just a moment.

On Immunity – Eula Biss

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In a culture that relishes pitting women against each other in mommy wars, I feel compelled to leave some traces on the page of another kind of argument.