Today in Bookish and Literary History, October 28

1726 Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift (Ireland)

A wickedly clever satire uses comic inversions to offer telling insights into the nature of man and society. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read

2021 Treacle Walker by Alan Garner (My Review) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

An extraordinary, “playful, moving, and wholly remarkable” (The Guardian) coming-of-age novel filled with myth and magic from one of England's greatest living writers.

• Shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize

2021 Medusa by Jessie Burton (UK)

A dazzling, lyrical YA retelling of Greek myth, from Jessie Burton, internationally bestselling author of The Miniaturist and The Muse.

2025 The White Octopus Hotel by Alexandra Bell (UK)

Journey to a magical hotel in the Swiss Alps, where two lost souls living in different centuries meet and discover if a second chance awaits them behind its doors.

2025 The Black Wolf by Louise Penny

The 20th mystery in the #1 New York Times-bestselling Armand Gamache series.

Still recovering from his last case, Chief Inspector Gamache hunts a hidden enemy known as the Black Wolf, whose deadly conspiracy is only just beginning.

2025 Dead and Alive by Zadie Smith (UK)

In this eagerly awaited new collection, Zadie Smith brings her unique skills as an essayist to bear on a range of subjects that have captured her attention in recent years.