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Present Library Copy: Vintage Classics edition, 2010 | Language: English | Genre: Speculative fiction | Pages: 328 | ISBN: 978-1-784-87967-9 

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In the repressive Republic of Gilead, fertile women are forced into the role of Handmaids—valued only for their ability to bear children for the ruling elite. Offred, one such woman, serves a powerful Commander, her every move watched and controlled. Through fragments of memory and guarded acts of defiance, she reveals a world of secrets, danger, and the faint, dangerous possibility of freedom.

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Present Library Copy: Hodder & Stoughton, 2004 | Language: English | Genre: Speculative Literary Fiction | Pages: 529 | ISBN: 0-340-82277-5

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Cloud Atlas weaves six seemingly separate tales—spanning the 19th century to a distant post-apocalyptic future—into a single, intricate tapestry. A young notary on a Pacific voyage, a composer in 1930s Belgium, a crusading journalist in 1970s California, a present-day publisher in peril, a genetically engineered server in dystopian Korea, and a tribesman in a far-off future all face choices of courage, betrayal, and hope. Their stories echo across time, hinting at hidden connections and the enduring struggle for freedom and truth.

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Present Library Copy: Telegram,2008 | Language: English from Icelandic | Genre: Literary Historical Fiction | Pages: 112 | ISBN: 978-1-84659-037-5

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The Blue Fox by Sjón is a short, lyrical novel set in 19th-century Iceland. It follows three interwoven threads: a priest hunting a rare blue fox in the snowbound wilderness; a naturalist who has cared for a young woman with Down syndrome; and the secrets that bind their lives. Told in sparse, poetic prose, the story blends myth, nature, and human cruelty, gradually revealing how beauty and brutality can coexist in the same frozen landscape.

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Present Library Copy: Penguin Books, 2011 | Language: English | Genre: Literary Spiritual Fiction | Pages: 368 | ISBN: 978-1-84659-037-5

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The Forty Rules of Love intertwines two narratives: in the present, Ella, a discontented housewife, begins reading a manuscript about the 13th-century poet Rumi and his spiritual guide, Shams of Tabriz; in the past, that manuscript recounts Rumi’s transformation through Shams’s radical teachings. Across both timelines, the novel explores love in its many forms—romantic, spiritual, and divine—through forty guiding principles that challenge fear, ego, and convention.

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Present Library Copy: Hogarth Press, 2019 | Language: English from Korean | Genre: Autofiction, Lyric Essay | Pages: 160 | ISBN: 978-0-525-57306-7

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The White Book is a meditative, fragmented work blending memoir, poetry, and reflection. Framed around a list of white objects—a swaddling cloth, snow, rice, a moon—the narrator contemplates the brief life of her sister who died as an infant, and the grief, tenderness, and rebirth that follow. Through spare, luminous prose, the book becomes an exploration of memory, loss, and the quiet beauty found in absence.

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Present Library Copy: Arhipelago Books, 2012 | Language: English from Norwegian | Genre: Autofiction, Lyric Essay | Pages: 441 | ISBN: 978-0-374-53414-1

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My Struggle: Book 1 is the first volume of the author’s sprawling autobiographical series. Blurring memoir and novel, it follows his childhood in Norway, his strained relationship with his distant and often harsh father, and his early adulthood as he begins to write. The narrative moves between intimate details of daily life and raw reflections on love, death, family, and the relentless passage of time, offering an unflinching portrait of memory and selfhood.

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Present Library Copy: Penguin Press, 2025 | Language: English | Genre: Literary Fiction | Pages: 416 | ISBN: 978-0-593-83187-8

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The Emperor of Gladness follows Hai, a nineteen-year-old adrift in the decaying town of East Gladness, Connecticut, who is saved from a suicide attempt by Grazina, an elderly widow with dementia. Becoming her live-in caregiver, Hai forms an unlikely bond with her while working at a fast-food chain alongside a ragtag group of co-workers. Through moments of tenderness, humor, and quiet struggle, the novel explores memory, loss, and the fragile ways people create meaning and belonging on the margins of life.

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Present Library Copy: Faber & Faber Limited, 2021 | Language: English | Genre: Literary Fiction | Pages: 298 | ISBN: 978-0-571-36812-9

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Nervous Conditions follows Tambu, a young girl in 1960s colonial Rhodesia, who seizes the chance for an education after her brother’s death. Moving to live with her uncle, a respected missionary, she navigates the cultural and gender expectations that limit women’s lives. Through her eyes—and those of her rebellious cousin Nyasha—the novel explores the tensions between tradition and modernity, colonialism and identity, and the personal costs of pursuing freedom.

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Present Library Copy: Signed First Edition, Alfred A. Knopf, 2018 | Language: English | Genre: Literary Fiction around contemporary realism with social commentary | Pages: 294 | ISBN: 978-0-525-52037-5

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There There is a powerful multi-voiced novel centred on twelve Native American characters living in Oakland, California, whose lives converge at a large urban powwow. Through their interconnected stories—of struggle, identity, addiction, and resilience—the book explores the complex realities of contemporary Indigenous life, confronting history, displacement, and the search for belonging in a fractured world.