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These ten novels were selected by academics writing for The Conversation, in a list republished by Scroll.in on 27 December 2024. The selection mixes translated and English-language fiction; it is an expert-curated reading list, not a ranked top ten or the result of a shared scoring system. The books range from postwar Dutch history and Sri Lanka’s civil war to space, contemporary relationships, and formally experimental fiction.
What “best” means in this list
The ten titles were recommended by contributors with expertise in fields including literature, cultural theory, postcolonial literature, and American studies. The list offers individual critical judgments, not a prize decision, vote tally, or objective ranking. Its order should not be read as a ranking, and it does not apply one common rubric to compare quality or difficulty. [Scroll.in]
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
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Taiwan Travelogue: A Novel | $10.48 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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Breakfast at Tiffany's | $9.59 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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Hot Mess (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #19): A laugh-out-loud summer disaster from the #1 international... | $8.29 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
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Love: A Novel (Vintage International) | $10.02 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
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Pan The Women (International Edition). | $12.50 | Buy on Amazon |
“International” here includes both novels originally written in English and works in translation. The ten books are best approached as distinct recommendations: choose by setting, subject, narrative form, and—where applicable—translator rather than by an implied score.
The ten novels
The Safekeep — Yael van der Wouden
In the Netherlands after the Second World War, Isabel remains in her family home following her mother’s death. She suspects the maid of stealing from the house, but the arrival of her brother’s girlfriend, Eva, pushes Isabel toward a more consequential reckoning: the home’s history is bound up with Jewish property taken during the war. Domestic suspicion becomes a way into questions of inheritance, theft, and restitution. [Scroll.in]
#1 Best Overall
Orbital — Samantha Harvey
Six cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station move through laboratory routines and the bodily work of life in orbit as they watch Earth—and a typhoon gathering in Southeast Asia—from above. Harvey sets the small, repetitive details of the astronauts’ days against the scale and vulnerability of the planet. It is a short-form literary novel for readers drawn to space, climate, and a planetary perspective. [Scroll.in]
Gliff — Ali Smith
Smith’s dystopian Britain sharpens concerns about climate change, refugees, intolerance, and authoritarianism. The novel is the first of a planned pair, followed by Glyph. Its title uses a Scottish word for a shock, fright, or sudden glimpse—a compact clue to the book’s interest in how language shapes perception. Readers looking for political unease and verbal play will find both in this near-future setting. [Scroll.in]
Rank #2
Intermezzo — Sally Rooney
Rooney’s novel attends to relationships as networks of hope, promises, and obligations. Its focus is less on grand declarations than on the ordinary acts of care through which people try to sustain one another. It will suit readers who want character-driven fiction about intimacy, grief, and the work of being responsible to other people. [Scroll.in]
James — Percival Everett
Everett retells The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with Jim at the center. In the antebellum plantation South, Jim learns he may be sold and separated from his family, and he flees with Huck. The shift in perspective makes voice and freedom central while engaging with Black literary criticism and the traditions of American literature. This is the selection’s clearest choice for readers interested in a revisionist take on a classic and its history. [Scroll.in]
Butter — Asako Yuzuki, translated from Japanese by Polly Barton
Journalist Rika interviews Manako Kaji, an imprisoned murderer whose gourmet cooking lured lonely men. Food and physical pleasure become part of a wider inquiry into misogyny, violence, female friendship, and intimacy in modern Japan. The novel combines a crime premise with a strong interest in appetite and social expectations; Polly Barton translated it from Japanese. [Scroll.in]
Martyr! — Kaveh Akbar
Akbar’s debut novel follows Cyrus Shams, an Iranian American whose mother died when a US military force shot down an airliner over the Persian Gulf. Cyrus becomes absorbed in a project about historical martyrs, ranging from Joan of Arc to a terminally ill Iranian artist. The story brings questions of grief and the meaning assigned to death into contact with immigration, intergenerational trauma, art, and alcohol addiction. [Scroll.in]
Rank #4
Parade — Rachel Cusk
Cusk’s formally searching novel moves through four chapters concerning artists identified as “G.” Shifting viewpoints create a kaleidoscope of narratives around gender, art, selfhood, creativity, and family. UCL’s republication of the related feature identifies Dr Scarlett Baron as the expert who recommended Parade as her best novel of 2024. This is the list’s most explicitly experimental choice for readers interested in how a novel can unsettle familiar narrative forms. [UCL]
Brotherless Night — V. V. Ganeshananthan
Set in Jaffna during Sri Lanka’s civil war, from 1983 to 2009, the novel follows Tamil teenager Sashikala as she experiences the loss of her brothers amid government atrocities and militant violence. Her later work with a women’s collective shifts the emphasis toward women’s agency without glorifying political violence. The book offers a family-centered route into a long and painful conflict. [Scroll.in]
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Kairos — Jenny Erpenbeck, translated from German by Michael Hofmann
In the final years of the German Democratic Republic, an affair develops between Hans, an older writer, and Katharina, a teenager. Erpenbeck sets a destructive private relationship against political and economic transformation in East Germany, drawing attention to the ways intimate life and public history can shape one another. Michael Hofmann translated the novel from German. It won the 2024 International Booker Prize. [Scroll.in]
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to choose among the ten
| For readers drawn to… | Start with | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| War’s afterlife and restitution | The Safekeep | Postwar Netherlands, a family home, and stolen Jewish property |
| Space, climate, and planetary scale | Orbital | Six cosmonauts’ routines and their view of Earth |
| Near-future politics and language | Gliff | Dystopian Britain and verbal experimentation |
| Everyday intimacy and care | Intermezzo | Relationships, grief, and emotional obligations |
| A classic retold from another perspective | James | Jim’s flight and the literary history behind Huckleberry Finn |
| Food, crime, and gender | Butter | A journalist’s interviews with an imprisoned murderer; translated from Japanese by Polly Barton |
| Grief, migration, and mortality | Martyr! | An Iranian American protagonist’s search for meaning in martyrdom |
| Experimental form and art | Parade | Four linked chapters, artists named “G,” and shifting points of view |
| Sri Lanka’s civil war and women’s agency | Brotherless Night | A Tamil family’s experience of political violence in Jaffna |
| East German history and private life | Kairos | A destructive affair set amid the GDR’s final years; translated by Michael Hofmann |
Translated fiction is only part of the selection
The list describes a mix of translated and English-language fiction; it does not present all ten as translations. It explicitly identifies Butter as translated from Japanese by Polly Barton and Kairos as translated from German by Michael Hofmann. For a separate discovery list focused specifically on fiction in translation, Kirkus published its “Best Fiction in Translation of 2024” on 16 April 2024. That is a different selection, not a substitute for these ten expert recommendations. [Kirkus Reviews]
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