BEST* FICTION BOOKS

1.- GREAT CIRCLE

The beginning of Maggie Shipstead's astounding novel, a Booker finalist, includes a series of endings : two plane crashes, a sunken ship and several people dead. The bad luck continues when one of the ship's young survivors, Maraian, grows up to become a pilot - only to disappear on the job.

Shipstead unravels her protagonist's life in glorious detail through a narrative made to be devoured, one that is both timeless and fulfilling.

2.- THE PROPHETS

At a plantation in the antebellum South, enslaved teenagers Isaiah and Samuel work in a barn and seek each other until one of their own, after adopting their master's religious beliefs, betrays their trust.

The Prophets, a National Book Award finalist, Robert Jones Jr. traces the teens' relationship within the complex hierarchy of the plantation.

The result is a crushing exploration of the legacy of slavery and a delicate story of Black queer love.

3.- My Monticello

Jocelyn Nicole Johnson's searing short story collection is one to read in order. It's narratives dissect an American present that doesn't feel at all moved from the country's violent past, and build to a brutal finish.

The unnerving standard story -the titular novella- follows a group of neighbors on the run from white supremacists. It's an apocalyptic as it is realistic, a haunting portrait of community trying to survive in a nation that constantly undermines its very existence.

4.- KLARA AND THE SUN

The eighth novel from Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro follows a robot-like ''Artificial Friend'' named Klara, who sits in a store and waits to be purchased.

When she becomes the companion of an ailing 14-year old girl, Klara puts her observations of the world to the test, in exploring the dynamic between the AI and the teen, Ishiguro crafts a narrative that asks unsettling questions about humanity, technology and purpose.

5.- AFTER PARTIES

The nine stories that constitute Anthony Veasna So is stirring debut collection, published after his death at 28, reveal a portrait of a Cambodian American community in California.

From a story about two sisters reflecting on their to another about their a high school badminton coach stuck in the past.

So's narratives offer a thoughtful view into the community that shaped him. While he describes the tensions his characters navigate with humor and care, So also reflects on immigration, queerness and identity.

The Publishing continues. The World Students Society thanks author Annabel Gutterman.