While we’re all locked indoors and lots of hours of work and learning are spent in the same place, to have an escape from our quarantined minds, picking up a book this weekend might be a great idea. Here, we recommend five novels which will help you declutter your mind during this time of crisis.
Year of Wonders
The novel is written in the point of view of a housemaid named Anna Frith, on what she lives through when the plague hits her village. It is based on the history of the small Derbyshire village of Eyamthat, when beset upon by the plague in 1666, quarantines itself in order to prevent the disease from spreading further. The plague that hit Eyam and other parts of the UK in 1665-1666 was one of many recurrences that had taken place since the Black Death of the 14th century.
My Dark Vanessa
This might be a good time to educate ourselves on some of the most pertinent human rights issues in the world and so we recommend My dark Vanessa. Kate Elizabeth Russel, explores issues of abuse and consent, in this intense novel which came out in 2017, when the MeToo movement was on its rise in the United States. It is about a sexual relationship between a 15-year-old girl and her English teacher, and forces one to interrogate their own belief system.
Rumi’s daughter
To find some peace and solace amidst ourselves, we turn back to stories from the times of poets and Rumi's Daughter is the delightful novel about Kimya, the girl who was sent from her rural village to live in Rumi's home. She already had mystical tendencies, and learned a great deal under Rumi's tutelage. Eventually she married Shams, an unusual husband, almost totally absorbed by his longings for God. Their marriage was fiery and different and, in the end, dissolved by Kimya's death - after which Shams vanished.
Exit West
The international bestseller, Exit West, is the fourth book that Mohsin Hamid has penned. The main themes of the novel are immigration and refugee problems. The novel is about a young couple, Saeed and Nadia, who live in an unnamed city undergoing civil war and finally have to flee, using a system of magical doors, which lead to different locations around the globe. Exit West is quite literally a story about escape and nothing sounds better in these times than running away to a far-fetched land.
The Bastard of Istanbul
The Bastard of Istanbul is a 2006 novel by Turkish bestselling author Elif Shafak. The story centers around the characters of Asya Kazancı and Armanoush Tchakhmakhchian. It is set in Arizona; San Francisco, California; and Istanbul, Turkey. The novel deals with the families and how they are connected through the events of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. At age nineteen, Armanoush travels secretly to Istanbul to search for her Armenian roots.
Year of Wonders
The novel is written in the point of view of a housemaid named Anna Frith, on what she lives through when the plague hits her village. It is based on the history of the small Derbyshire village of Eyamthat, when beset upon by the plague in 1666, quarantines itself in order to prevent the disease from spreading further. The plague that hit Eyam and other parts of the UK in 1665-1666 was one of many recurrences that had taken place since the Black Death of the 14th century.
My Dark Vanessa
This might be a good time to educate ourselves on some of the most pertinent human rights issues in the world and so we recommend My dark Vanessa. Kate Elizabeth Russel, explores issues of abuse and consent, in this intense novel which came out in 2017, when the MeToo movement was on its rise in the United States. It is about a sexual relationship between a 15-year-old girl and her English teacher, and forces one to interrogate their own belief system.
Rumi’s daughter
To find some peace and solace amidst ourselves, we turn back to stories from the times of poets and Rumi's Daughter is the delightful novel about Kimya, the girl who was sent from her rural village to live in Rumi's home. She already had mystical tendencies, and learned a great deal under Rumi's tutelage. Eventually she married Shams, an unusual husband, almost totally absorbed by his longings for God. Their marriage was fiery and different and, in the end, dissolved by Kimya's death - after which Shams vanished.
Exit West
The international bestseller, Exit West, is the fourth book that Mohsin Hamid has penned. The main themes of the novel are immigration and refugee problems. The novel is about a young couple, Saeed and Nadia, who live in an unnamed city undergoing civil war and finally have to flee, using a system of magical doors, which lead to different locations around the globe. Exit West is quite literally a story about escape and nothing sounds better in these times than running away to a far-fetched land.
The Bastard of Istanbul
The Bastard of Istanbul is a 2006 novel by Turkish bestselling author Elif Shafak. The story centers around the characters of Asya Kazancı and Armanoush Tchakhmakhchian. It is set in Arizona; San Francisco, California; and Istanbul, Turkey. The novel deals with the families and how they are connected through the events of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. At age nineteen, Armanoush travels secretly to Istanbul to search for her Armenian roots.