The Ten Best Books of 2024 Published by Independent Presses

This Tertulia First Dibs selection is a powerful and consuming story of culture, family, and legacy following a father and daughter—who doesn't know him at all—living on opposite borders of the Maine Penobscot Reservation.

The first novel by the author of the memoir The Bridge Ladies follows two very different sisters, one grounded and rational and the other charismatic and beautiful but struggling with mental illness. Musician and author Patti Smith was enthralled by this story of sisterhood, girlhood and loss, "I love this book. It moves like a souped-up pickup truck."

In 1930s Taiwan, a Japanese novelist falls for her charming Taiwanese interpreter as they navigate the complexities of “language, politics, and popular culture,” according to the National Book Foundation. With delicious meals and scenic adventures, the bittersweet romance between the two women uncovers hidden truths about colonialism and the art of connection.

Join six men and women from America, Russia, Italy, Britain and Japan orbiting Earth at over seventeen thousand miles per hour in this slender, mesmerizing novel that “satisfies both my lifelong obsession with space travel and my hunger for sentences and paragraphs that demand to be read and reread. A day in the life of six astronauts aboard the International Space Station, that’s all, but my goodness this novel is beautiful,” raved novelist Mark Haddon in the New Statesman.

"It's hard to imagine a more erudite zombie story. This is de Marcken's central trope–and her triumph. She seizes the gut-smeared cliches of The Walking Dead and recomposes them as a philosophical odyssey. Better yet, despite her fiction's core seriousness, its quest for the Real, her undead stumble through a Grand Guignol farce. A terrific debut." – John Domini, The Brooklyn Rail.

The Los Angeles Times was amazed by this "stunning and surreal debut novel" written by a Palestinian journalist born in Jerusalem. "Birkin-bag economics meets colorism and racism and feminism and more--it's beyond intersectionality."

In this “sublime” second installment of the acclaimed Japanese author’s proposed trilogy, the band of friends convene in Copenhagen for more strange, mind-bending adventures in their climate-ravaged world. Publishers Weekly raves in its starred review, “Tawada finds a subtly different voice for each character, adding to the linguistic stew, which simmers into a captivating Decameron-like tale.”

“The translation of any of Maylis de Kerangal's books is a gift,” declared The New Yorker. And her new collection of seven short stories, anchored by a haunting novella that riffs on the legend of Buffalo Bill - is no exception. The colorful cast of women in these spellbinding tales from the author of the Booker-nominated Mend the Living confront dislocation, voices that change with language, and obsessions with everything from stones to sound waves and UFO’s.

Brian Evenson, who has won the World Fantasy Award and Shirley Jackson Prize among other honors, has written one of the most anticipated story collections of the year. He weaves together apocalyptic themes with the ethical dilemmas of AI and "post-human" relationships in these mind-bending stories. "If you’ve never read Evenson but are a fan of George Saunders, Ray Bradbury, Jorge Luis Borges… now’s the time to rectify your mistake." —Literary Hub

This short novel finally coming out in translation is by Domenico Starnone, a National Book Award finalist considered by many to be one of Italy's greatest living authors. The book is a stunning depiction of the depth of childhood experiences, and how, just like adults, children can become lost in a fervor of love, desire, and obsession.