The Bolter by Frances Osborne
The Bolter chronicles the life of Idina Sackville, a wellborn British woman who defied convention by having “lovers without number” and choosing a decadent expat life in Kenya in 1918.
Dreaming in Hindi by Katherine Russell Rich
Dreaming in Hindi is the verbally and emotionally dazzling story of Rich’s passage to India, where she tried to master an intricate foreign tongue—and became fluent in the language of human possibility.
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
A story about what it takes to look horror in the face and still find beauty. Read my review here (I loved this novel).
Blame by Michelle Huneven
Sly yet openhearted, Michelle Huneven’s Blame takes on the recovery movement in this novel about Patsy MacLemoore, a slightly wild, 20-something history professor involved in an alcohol-related crime.
Losing Mum and Pup by Christopher Buckley
Christopher Buckley’s life wasn’t exactly like most people’s—his parents were William F. and Patricia Buckley, East Coast social and intellectual fixtures. But Losing Mum and Pup , his memoir of the year in which they both died—is 
universal in its evocation of loss.
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
Here, the subject is a Syrian-born contractor who should have been lionized for his selfless work in New Orleans during and after Katrina but was instead caged like an animal in a makeshift jail; the book is a masterpiece of compassionate reporting about a shameful time in our history. (See my review of Zeitoun here — I really loved this one!)
Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpan
Only Uwem Akpan, a Nigerian-born writer and Jesuit priest, could guide us though such desperate terrain, from street slums in Nairobi to war-torn Rwanda, with something like hope in our hands.
Some Things That Meant the World to Me by Joshua Mohr
With his first line—”I’d like to brag about the night I saved a hooker’s life”—debut writer Joshua Mohr sucks you into Some Things That Meant the World to Me .
The Invisible Mountain by Carolina De Robertis
Carolina De Robertis’s The Invisible Mountain —about three generations of strong women whose passions play out against the politics of 20th-century South America—does what the best, most readable novels do: It tells a compelling human story about identity while also quietly evoking a place and time.
Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness by Tracy Kidder
Tracy Kidder’s Strength in What Remains is the astonishing real-life story of a man called Deo, who, after witnessing the destruction of his native Burundi, faced poverty and deep humiliation in America—and rose above it.
