The Fifteen Best Books Youve (Probably) Never Read
Discover 15 hidden literary gems you've probably never read—from Ron Hansen's *Mariette in Ecstasy* to Kobo Abe's *The Woman in the Dunes*. Explore underrated fiction classics, including G.K. Chesterton's *The Man Who Was Thursday* and more. Unearth your next unforgettable read.
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The Woman in the Dunes
by Kobo Abe
The Woman in the Dunes, by celebrated writer and thinker Kobo Abe, combines the essence of myth, suspense and the existential novel. After missing the last bus home following a day trip to the seashore, an amateur entomologist is offered lodging for the night at the bottom of a vast sand pit. But when he attempts to leave the next morning, he quickly discovers that the locals have other plans. Held captive with seemingly no chance of escape, he is tasked with shoveling back the ever-advancing sand dunes that threaten to destroy the village. His only companion is an odd young woman. Together their fates become intertwined as they work side by side at this Sisyphean task.
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Shipwrecks
by Akira Yoshimura
"A thrilling tale of murder and retribution set on the wild seacoast of medieval Japan"--Cover.
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Anya
by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer
Before she goes to America, the Polish Jew Anya who has escaped several times during World War II, always searches for her little girl, given to Gentiles at the start of the war.
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Angelica
by Arthur Phillips
Interweaves conflicting interpretations of events from the perspectives of Joseph and Constance Barton, their daughter Angelica, and spiritualist Anne Montague, as the Bartons seek an explanation for a supernatural evil that may be threatening their household.
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Mariette in Ecstasy
by Ron Hansen
The highly acclaimed and provocatively rendered story of a young postulant's claim to divine possession and religious ecstasy.
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The Man Who Was Thursday
by G. K. Chesterton
G. K. Chesterton's surreal masterpiece is a psychological thriller that centers on seven anarchists in turn-of-the-century London who call themselves by the names of the days of the week. Chesterton explores the meanings of their disguised identities in what is a fascinating mystery and, ultimately, a spellbinding allegory. As Jonathan Lethem remarks in his Introduction, The real characters are the ideas. Chesterton's nutty agenda is really quite simple: to expose moral relativism and parlor nihilism for the devils he believes them to be. This wouldn't be interesting at all, though, if he didn't also show such passion for giving the devil his due. He animates the forces of chaos and anarchy with every ounce of imaginative verve and rhetorical force in his body.
