Today in Bookish and Literary History, January 9

 1928 Marco Millions by Eugene O'Neill - US

1936 Astonished Heart by Noël Coward - UK

The Astonished Heart tells the story of a psychiatrist's growing obsession for a good-time girl and the resulting tragedy this leads to.

1937 High Tor by Maxwell Anderson - US

2020 The Shapeless Unease: A Year of Not Sleeping by Samantha Harvey - UK

This genre-defying debut memoir by Betty Trask Prize winner, Samantha Harvey, weaves a tapestry of confessional anguish, flash fiction, cathartic poetry, and feverish observations on politics and psychology in a transcendent search for reality and truth.

2024 My Friends by Hisham Matar - Libya/US

A devastating meditation on friendship and family, and the ways in which time tests—and frays—those bonds, My Friends is an achingly beautiful work of literature by an author working at the peak of his powers.

• National Book Award Finalist
• Longlisted For The Booker Prize

2024 River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure - FR/US/China

In a stunning reversal of the east-to-west immigrant narrative and set against China's political history and economic rise, River East, River West is an intimate family drama and a sharp social novel. Alternating between Alva and Lu Fang's points of view, this is a profoundly moving exploration of race and class, cultural identity and belonging, and the often-false promise of the American Dream.

• Shortlisted For The Women's Prize For Fiction
• Shortlisted For The Carol Shields Prize
• Finalist For The Maya Angelou Book Award
• Shorlisted For Stanfords' Fiction With A Sense Of Place Award
• Longlisted For The Dublin Literary Award
• Longlisted For The Massachusetts Book Award

2024 Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock by Maud Woolf - Scotland

A washed up star creates a clone tasked with eliminating other clones of herself; a whip-smart and thrilling sci-fi read that's perfect for fans of Orphan Black, Killing Eve and Keeping it Real by Justina Robson.

2024 You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue - Mexico

You Dreamed of Empires brings Tenochtitlan to life at its height, and reimagines its destiny. The incomparably original Álvaro Enrigue sets afire the moment of conquest and turns it into a moment of revolution, a restitutive, fantastical counterattack, in a novel so electric and so unique that it feels like a dream.

2024 Poor Deer by Claire Oshetsky - UA

Heartrending, hopeful, and boldly imagined, Poor Deer explores the journey toward understanding the children we once were and the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of life’s most difficult moments.

• WINNER OF THE KAFKA PRIZE FOR FICTION

2024 The Furies: Three Women and Their Violent Fight for Justice by Elizabeth Flock - US

Three women. Three blazing stories of violent resistance. Three complicated paths to justice.

2024 Old Crimes: and Other Stories by Jill McCorkle - US

Moving and unforgettable, the stories in Old Crimes capture moments of great intensity, longing, and affection.

2025 Meant to Be Yours by Cyn - US

Meant to Be Yours is a second chance at love with a captivating love that the reader will feel on every page.

2025 Alive in the Merciful Country by A.L. Kennedy - Scotland

From a Costa Book of the Year winner, Booker nominee and double Granta-selected Best Young British novelist comes a searing portrayal of the gradual uncovering of one woman's past psychological wounds, set in motion by the arrival of an unexpected letter.