Salt to the Sea

Judul : Salt to the Sea

Penulis : Ruta Sepetys

Tebal : 391 halaman

Penerbit : Philomel Books

While the Titanic and Lusitania are both well-documented disasters, the single greatest tragedy in maritime history is the little-known January 30, 1945 sinking in the Baltic Sea by a Soviet submarine of the Wilhelm Gustloff, a German cruise liner that was supposed to ferry wartime personnel and refugees to safety from the advancing Red Army. The ship was overcrowded with more than 10,500 passengers — the intended capacity was approximately 1,800 — and more than 9,000 people, including 5,000 children, lost their lives.

Joana, a Lithuanian with nursing experience; Florian, a Prussian soldier fleeing the Nazis with stolen treasure; and Emilia, a Polish girl close to the end of her pregnancy, converge on their escape journeys as Russian troops advance; each will eventually meet Albert, a Nazi peon with delusions of grandeur, assigned to the Gustloff decks.

The Magpie Bridge

Judul : The Magpie Bridge

Penulis : Liu Hong

Tebal : 400 halaman

Penerbit : Quills Book Publisher Indonesia

Suatu ketika Jiao Mei terjaga dari tidurnya di tengah malam. Ia merasa dibangunkan seorang perempuan yang mengaku sebagai neneknya. Ia coba menghalau kejadian itu dari benaknya dan menganggapnya hanya sebagai bunga tidur. Hanya sebuah mimpi karena ketegangannya menghadapi ujian yang akan segera tiba, juga kelelahan dan kerinduannya akan makanan Sichuan. Semua itu membuat Jiao Mei merasa asing dengan dirinya sendiri. Ditambah Barbara, teman serumahnya, membuatnya semakin terganggu dengan sikapnya yang eksentrik. Suasana di sekitar Hampsted, tempat tinggal mereka pun semakin aneh. Semua ini memaksanya untuk mengakui bahwa tamu malam harinya itu memang benar neneknya, dan bahwa pesan yang disampaikannya bahwa Jiao Mei sedang mengandung anak dari pacarnya yang orang Inggris adalah sesuatu yang tidak dapat dipungkirinya.

Sementara itu pada saat yang bersamaan, Tie Mei, nenek Jiao Mei, sedang berada di London untuk urusan bisnis: menyusun lembaran berumur ratusan tahun, yang sangat mempengaruhi hubungannya dengan Jiao Mei. Keterkejutannya akan budaya asalnya yang rumit, membuat Jiao Mei berusaha untuk membuka rahasia di balik hancurnya ikatan dalam keluarganya.

Laut Bercerita

 Judul : Laut Bercerita

Penulis : Leila S. Chudori

Tebal : 380 halaman

Penerbit : Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia

Jakarta, Maret 1998

Di sebuah senja, di sebuah rumah susun di Jakarta, mahasiswa bernama Biru Laut disergap empat lelaki tak dikenal. Bersama kawan-kawannya, Daniel Tumbuan, Sunu Dyantoro, Alex Perazon, dia dibawa ke sebuah tempat yang tak dikenal. Berbulan-bulan mereka disekap, diinterogasi, dipukul, ditendang, digantung, dan disetrum agar bersedia menjawab satu pertanyaan penting: siapakah yang berdiri di balik gerakan aktivis dan mahasiswa saat itu.

Jakarta, Juni 1998

Keluarga Arya Wibisono, seperti biasa, pada hari Minggu sore memasak bersama, menyediakan makanan kesukaan Biru Laut. Sang ayah akan meletakkan satu piring untuk dirinya, satu piring untuk sang ibu, satu piring untuk Biru Laut, dan satu piring untuk si bungsu Asmara Jati. Mereka duduk menanti dan menanti. Tapi Biru Laut tak kunjung muncul.

Jakarta, 2000

Asmara Jati, adik Biru Laut, beserta Tim Komisi Orang Hilang yang dipimpin Aswin Pradana mencoba mencari jejak mereka yang hilang serta merekam dan mempelajari testimoni mereka yang kembali. Anjani, kekasih Laut, para orangtua dan istri aktivis yang hilang menuntut kejelasan tentang anggota keluarga mereka. Sementara Biru Laut, dari dasar laut yang sunyi bercerita kepada kita, kepada dunia tentang apa yang terjadi pada dirinya dan kawan-kawannya.

Homegoing

Judul : Homegoing

Penulis : Yaa Gyasi

Tebal : 305 halaman

Penerbit : Vintage

Ghana, eighteenth century: two half sisters are born into different villages, each unaware of the other. One will marry an Englishman and lead a life of comfort in the palatial rooms of the Cape Coast Castle. The other will be captured in a raid on her village, imprisoned in the very same castle, and sold into slavery.

Homegoing follows the parallel paths of these sisters and their descendants through eight generations: from the Gold Coast to the plantations of Mississippi, from the American Civil War to Jazz Age Harlem. Yaa Gyasi’s extraordinary novel illuminates slavery’s troubled legacy both for those who were taken and those who stayed—and shows how the memory of captivity has been inscribed on the soul of our nation.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Judul : The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Penulis : Taylor Jenkins Reid

Tebal : 400 halaman

Penerbit : Washington Square Press

Reclusive Hollywood icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant to write her story, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. 

Determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career, Monique listens in fascination. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the ‘80s - and, of course, the seven husbands along the way - Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. But as Evelyn’s story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

Judul : The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

Penulis : Claire North

Tebal : 405 halaman

Penerbit : Orbit

No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, every time Harry dies, he always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life lived a dozen times before.

Nothing ever changes - until now.

As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. 'I nearly missed you, Doctor August,'she says. 'I need to send a message.'

This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow.

The Light Between Oceans

Judul : The Light Between Oceans

Penulis : M. L. Stedman

Tebal : 345 halaman

Penerbit : Scribner

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. 

Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby. Tom, who keeps meticulous records and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel insists the baby is a “gift from God,” and against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. 

When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them. 

The Nightingale

Judul : The Nightingale

Penulis : Kristin Hannah

Tebal : 438 halaman

Penerbit : Pan Macmillan

Bravery, courage, fear and love in a time of war.

Despite their differences, Vianne and Isabelle have always been close. Younger, bolder Isabelle lives in Paris while Vianne is content with life in the French countryside with her husband Antoine and their child. But when the Second World War breaks out and Antoine is conscripted to fight, Isabelle is sent to the country by her father to help Vianne.

As the war develops, the strength of the sisters' relationship is put to the test. With life changing, and confronted by unbelievable horros, Vianne and Isabelle find themselves responding in ways they never thought possible, as bravery and resistance take differing forms for each of the two sisters.

A House Divided

Judul : A House Divided (House of Earth #3)

Penulis : Pearl S. Buck

Tebal : 536 halaman

Penerbit : Gramedia Pustaka Utama

Cucu-cucu Wang Lung, petani sederhana yang seumur hidupnya harus bekerja keras mengolah tanah, kini tinggal menikmati hasil jerih-payah kakek mereka. Anak-anak Wang sang Tuan Tanah hidup berfoya-foya di kota pantai, sementara di dalam Rumah Keluarga Wang yang seluas istana, anak-anak Wang sang Saudagar tetap hidup sesuai tradisi lama, dilayani puluhan pelayan. Tujuan hidup mereka jelas: mengumpulkan harta sebanyak mungkin.

Di antara kedua gaya hidup itulah Wang Yuan, putra Wang si Macan, terombang-ambing. Sejak kecil dia tak pernah bahagia, dan tak pernah punya tujuan hidup yang jelas, sampai pada suatu hari dia dijebloskan ke penjara karena terlibat pemberontakan kaum revolusioner yang sesungguhnya tidak benar-benar dia pahami.

The House of the Spirits

Judul : The House of the Spirits

Penulis : Isabel Allende

Tebal : 448 halaman

Penerbit : Dial Press Trade Paperback

Here is patriarch Esteban, whose wild desires and political machinations are tempered only by his love for his ethereal wife, Clara, a woman touched by an otherworldly hand. Their daughter, Blanca, whose forbidden love for a man Esteban has deemed unworthy infuriates her father, yet will produce his greatest joy: his granddaughter Alba, a beautiful, ambitious girl who will lead the family and their country into a revolutionary future.

Out of the Easy

Judul : Out of the Easy

Penulis : Ruta Sepetys

Tebal : 346 halaman

Penerbit : Penguin Books Ltd

Out of the Easy is set against the vivid backdrop of 1950s New Orleans. Written by New York Times bestselling author Ruth Sepetys, this novel has something for everyone: love, mystery, murder, blackmail and warmth.

Josie Moraine wants out of The Big Easy - she needs more than New Orleans can offer. Known locally as a brothel prostitute's daughter, she dreams of life at an elite college, far away from here.

But then a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie caught between her ambition and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans is luring Josie deeper in as she searches for the truth, and temptation beckons at every turn.

The Palace of Illusions

Judul : The Palace of Illusions

Penulis : Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Tebal : 384 halaman

Penerbit : Anchor

A reimagining of the world-famous Indian epic, the Mahabharat—told from the point of view of an amazing woman.

Relevant to today’s war-torn world, The Palace of Illusions takes us back to a time that is half history, half myth, and wholly magical. Narrated by Panchaali, the wife of the legendary Pandavas brothers in the Mahabharat, the novel gives us a new interpretation of this ancient tale.

The novel traces the princess Panchaali's life, beginning with her birth in fire and following her spirited balancing act as a woman with five husbands who have been cheated out of their father’s kingdom. Panchaali is swept into their quest to reclaim their birthright, remaining at their side through years of exile and a terrible civil war involving all the important kings of India. Meanwhile, we never lose sight of her strategic duels with her mother-in-law, her complicated friendship with the enigmatic Krishna, or her secret attraction to the mysterious man who is her husbands' most dangerous enemy. Panchaali is a fiery female redefining for us a world of warriors, gods, and the ever-manipulating hands of fate.

Portrait in Sepia

Judul : Portrait in Sepia

Penulis : Isabel Allende

Tebal : 336 halaman

Penerbit : Harper Perennial Modern Classics

Recounted in the voice of a young woman in search of her roots, Portrait in Sepia is a novel about memory and family secrets. 

Aurora del Valle suffers a brutal trauma that shapes her character and erases from her mind all recollection of the first five years of her life. Raised by her ambitious grandmother, the regal and commanding Paulina del Valle, she grows up in a privileged environment, free of the limitations that circumscribe the lives of women at that time, but tormented by horrible nightmares. When she is forced to recognize her betrayal at the hands of the man she loves, and to cope with the resulting solitude, she decides to explore the mystery of her past.

All The Light We Cannot See

Judul : All The Light We Cannot See

Penulis : Anthony Doerr

Tebal : 544 halaman

Penerbit : Fourth Estate

Marie-Laure has been blind since the age of six. Her father builds a perfect miniature of their Paris neighbourhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. But when the Nazis invade, father and daughter flee with a dangerous secret.

Werner is a German orphan, destined to labour in the same mine that claimed his father’s life, until he discovers a knack for engineering. His talent wins him a place at a brutal military academy, but his way out of obscurity is built on suffering.

At the same time, far away in a walled city by the sea, an old man discovers new worlds without ever setting foot outside his home. But all around him, impending danger closes in.

Daughter of Fortune

Judul : Daughter of Fortune

Penulis : Isabel Allende

Tebal : 419 halaman

Penerbit : Harper Perennial

When the rootless foundling Eliza Sommers, at the age of sixteen, falls for a striking young revolutionary called Joaquin Andieta it sets her life on a course of travels and adventures that will take her far away from her native Chile and the Enlgish household where she ahs been raised. In the frenzy of the American gold rush Andieta disappears. Eliza, desperate with love and determined to find him, stows away on a ship packed with sailors, adventurers, whores and a gentle Chinese doctor, bound for the harsh frontier town of San Fransisco. 

Pulang

Judul : Pulang

Penulis : Leila S. Chudori

Tebal : 464 halaman

Penerbit : Gramedia Pustaka Utama

Paris, Mei 1968. 

Ketika revolusi mahasiswa berkecamuk di Paris, Dimas Suryo seorang eksil politik Indonesia bertemu Vivienne Deveraux, seorang mahasiswa Prancis yang ikut demonstrasi melawan pemerintah Prancis. Pada saat yang sama, Dimas menerima kabar dari Jakarta: Hananto Prawiro, sahabatnya, ditangkap tentara dan dinyatakan tewas. Dimas merasa cemas dan gamang. Bersama puluhan wartawan dan seniman lain, dia tak bisa kembali ke Jakarta karena paspornya dicabut oleh pemerintah Indonesia. Sejak itu mereka mengelana tanpa status yang jelas dari Santiago ke Havana, ke Peking dan akhirnya mendarat di tanah Eropa untuk mendapatkan suaka dan menetap di sana.

Di tengah kesibukan mengelola Restoran Tanah Air di Paris bersama tiga kawannya: Nug, Tjai, dan Risjaf—mereka berempat disebut Empat Pilar Tanah Air—Dimas, terus-menerus dikejar rasa bersalah karena kawan-kawannya di Indonesia satu persatu tumbang, dikejar, ditembak, atau menghilang begitu saja dalam perburuan Peristiwa 30 September. Apalagi dia tak bisa melupakan Surti Anandari—isteri Hananto—yang bersama ketiga anaknya berbulan-bulan diinterogasi tentara.

The Help

Judul : The Help

Penulis : Kathryn Stockett

Tebal : 522 halaman

Penerbit : Berkley Trade

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

The Book Thief

Judul : The Book Thief

Penulis : Markus Zusak

Tebal : 560 halaman

Penerbit : Black Swan

HERE IS A SMALL FACT - YOU ARE GOING TO DIE. 

1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier.

Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall.

SOME IMPORTANT INFORMATION - THIS NOVEL IS NARRATED BY DEATH.

It's a small story, about: a girl, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist fighter, and quite a lot of thievery.

ANOTHER THING YOU SHOULD KNOW - DEATH WILL VISIT THE BOOK THIEF THREE TIMES.

The Last Concubine

Judul : The Last Concubine

Penulis : Lesley Downer

Tebal : 658 halaman 

Penerbit : Matahati

Kisah tentang seorang gadis petani yang menjejakkan kakinya di atas tandu emas dengan menjadi selir terakhir sang shogun. Ia berusaha menemukan jati dirinya di tengah intrik serta persaingan di istana para perempuan di kastel Edo, rumah dari 3000 perempuan dan hanya seorang lelaki--sang shogun muda.

Namun, perang saudara memorak-porandakan segalanya.

The Last Concubine adalah kisah kepahlawanan para samurai, keteguhan sikap para ronin, dan kesaksian seorang perempuan pada saat runtuhnya era Tokugawa.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Judul : The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Penulis : John Boyne

Tebal : 224 halaman

Penerbit : David Fickling Books

Berlin 1942

When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and the family must move from their home to a new house far far away, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence running alongside stretches as far as the eye can see and cuts him off from the strange people he can see in the distance.

But Bruno longs to be an explorer and decides that there must be more to this desolate new place than meets the eye. While exploring his new environment, he meets another boy whose life and circumstances are very different to his own, and their meeting results in a friendship that has devastating consequences.