FICTION · GENERAL
David Szalay
Canadian-born Hungarian-British writer. His sixth novel, Flesh, won the 2025 Booker Prize.
THE DOORBELL JANGLED Kimmy Dale out of her dreamless sleep.
— from The Innocent, 1997
Most acclaimed
Turbulence
"A major literary event that has taken the international publishing community by storm: A best-seller in Brazil, where it received unprecedented critical acclaim, Turbulence has also been translated into French, German, Italian, and Spanish, among other major languages. Written by Chico Buarque, one of Brazil's premier singers and songwriters, the novel gives an intense, apocalyptic vision of the paranoia, lawlessness, and nightmare of urban life in Brazil - an extended metaphor for a country facing the menace of a violent confrontation between the rich and the poor." "Set in the decaying and poverty-stricken outskirts of an unnamed city, Turbulence consists of a series of highly charged cinematic scenes, viewed through the dazed eyes of a nameless narrator who moves between two different worlds. An aimless dropout, living on handouts from his rich sister, he belongs by birth to the privileged urban upper crust, with its luxury seaside apartments, its fabulous houses hidden behind electrified high walls and protected by machine-gun-toting security guards, its insanely expensive boutiques and shopping centers, its extravagant parties and trips to Europe. By chance he enters the "other Brazil," the world of marginal and petty criminals that infringes on the edges of privileged society and threatens to engulf it." "Told with compelling urgency, rich in irony, alive with arresting imagery, Turbulence is a haunting novel of kidnapping, assault and robbery, rape, and murder."--BOOK JACKET.
Flesh
Teenaged István lives with his mother in a quiet apartment complex in Hungary. Shy and new in town, he is a stranger to the social rituals practiced by his classmates and soon becomes isolated, with his neighbor—a married woman close to his mother’s age, whom he begrudgingly helps with errands—as his only companion. But as these periodical encounters shift into a clandestine relationship that István himself can barely understand, his life soon spirals out of control, ending in a violent accident that leaves a man dead. What follows is a rocky trajectory that sees István emigrate from Hungary to London, where he moves from job to job before finding steady work as a driver for London’s billionaire class. At each juncture, his life is affected by the goodwill or self-interest of strangers. Through it all, István is a calm, detached observer of his own life, and through his eyes we experience a tragic twist on an immigrant “success story,” brightened by moments of sensitivity, softness, and Szalay’s keen observation.
Pursuit
New York Times–bestselling author Karen Robards weaves a complex tale of political conspiracy and a steamy love affair, in her sizzling new novel Pursuit.When rookie lawyer Jessica Monaghan gets the call from John Riordan, the senior partner at the illustrious law firm for which she works, she thinks the plum assignment he offers her might be a life-changing moment. And she’s right, it is—only not in the way she hopes. It’s late on a Saturday night, and Riordan is busy—and, Jess can tell, well on his way to being drunk. He needs Jess to meet First Lady Annette Cooper, for whom Riordan is a personal lawyer, at a Washington, D.C., hotel. Jess is thrilled: This high-profile assignment must mean she’s on her way to bigger things. But bigger isn’t always better.Jess doesn’t remember much; only that in the course of the meeting with Annette Cooper she ended up in the backseat of a speeding car. All she knows is that the car crashes en route, killing the First Lady. Badly injured, Jess is the only survivor of what is trumpeted around the world as a tragic accident.Although she has no memory about the events leading up to the accident, Jess still wonders: Was it really an accident? The FBI agent on the case, Mark Ryan, senses Jess is hiding something. As Ryan’s suspicions grow, Jess’s world starts falling apart. Riordan suddenly dies of a heart attack, and his personal secretary also dies in a car accident on the way to his funeral. In fact, everyone who might possibly know the details about the First Lady’s meeting is dead. And then Jess understands: if she remembers that night, she’ll be dead too.Terrified and certain the First Lady’s death was no accident, Jess has only Mark Ryan to turn to. . . .