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Daunt Books Children's Short Story Competition 2013

Asia

• Subcontinent
• East Asia
• Southeast Asia

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  The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill

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  The first in Colin Cotterill's Dr Siri series, this amusing, sophisticated detective story is set in Laos against a backdrop of vividly imagined, eccentric characters and a unique culture.

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  Diamond Dust by Anita Desai

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  A collection of nine amusing, tender, passionate and heartbreaking short stories from this grand dame of Indian fiction.

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  Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai

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  Tara and Bim are two Indian sisters reunited after ten years apart, ten years which has seen the death of Ghandi, violence between Muslims and Hindus and a malaria epidemic. Tara left to marry, but Bim remained at her family home looking after their autistic brother. Now the two sisters must try to overcome old resentments and forget the past, much like India herself. Intoxicating fiction that tells us so much about Desai's India.

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  The Last Concubine by Lesley Downer

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  Sweeping, romantic epic, this novel tells the story of a fifteen year-old concubine of the young shogun who, when civil war errupts, must flee the palace with the help of a rebel warrior.

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  The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble

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  An American academic on her way to a conference in Korea is haunted by the story of a young, eighteenth century consort to the Crown Prince. A sophisticated and intoxicating historical novel.

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  The Lover by Marguerite Duras

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  A passionate and intense love story set in 1930s Saigon against a backdrop of the last days of French rule. A rich Chinese boy and a poor French girl fall in love to the horror of both of their families. This superbly-written, erotic novel was the winner of the Prix Goncourt in 1984.

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  Silence by Shusaku Endo

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  This fantastic novel from Shusaku Endo tells the story of an idealistic Portuguese priest who travels to Japan in the 1640s determined to free Japanese Christians from their oppressors. Under the overwhelming pressure of religious persecution, however, his faith is tested to its limits.

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  The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng

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  This is the story of a half-Chinese, half-English boy growing up in Malaysia during the 1930s and 40s. A coming of age novel, encompassing different cultures and philosophies as the boy begins to learn martial art, set against a fascinating historical background as one set of colonisers, the British, are ousted by another, the Japanese.

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  The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell

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  Shortlisted as one of the best of 40 years of Booker prize-winners, J. G. Farrell's modern classic is the blackly humorous account of an isolated Indian colonial town under siege during the mutiny of 1857. As conditions deteriorate, the British colonials struggle to keep their stiff upper lip absolutely stiff and the locals watch on with palpable glee.

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  The Singapore Grip by J.G. Farrell

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  An acutely-observed, darkly humorous portrayal of colonial life on the eve of the Japanese invasion. J G Farrell paints a vivid picture of the ex-pat, imperial community, of sundowners and tennis parties, the final swansong of the British Empire, with the tense shadow of war looming over them all.

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  A Bali Conspiracy Most Foul by Shamini Flint

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  The second in Flint's Inspector Singh series follows the rotund Sikh to Bali in the wake of a terrorist bomb attack. He is back on familiar ground, however, when a body is found in the rubble which seems to have been murdered prior to the explosion. A light, amusing crime novel which brings to life this Indonesian island and some of its social and political issues.

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  Inspector Singh Investigates: A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder by Shamini Flint

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  The first in a lively new series of detective stories set in Southeast Asia. Thoroughly enjoyable, Singh is the Singaporean Precious Ramotswe.

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  In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut

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  A young drifter embarks on a series of disastrous journeys through Greece, India and Africa in this brief and beguiling novel. Each represents a voyage of discovery for the South African narrator, whose encounters with other travellers force him into confrontation with his own feelings of inertia, compassion and thwarted desire.

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  Love Marriage by V. V. Ganeshananthan

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  A lyrical debut from V. V. Ganeshananthan about a Sri Lankan family caught between the old world of their traditional homeland and the freedom of modern America. Yalini, a Tamil girl, tries to find her way by retracing the history of her family, their marriages and their ethnic roots.

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  The Man in the Wooden Hat by Jane Gardam

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  This beautifully observed story of late-flowering love traces the long marriage of Betty and Eddie Feathers against the backdrop of a pulsing, labyrinthine Hong Kong and, later, a quiet Dorset retreat. Michael Arditti has described Gardam's writing as being 'like painting on glass: vivid and translucent'. We couldn't agree more.

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  River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh

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  A heavily laden ship capsizes en route to Mauritius from India leaving only a handful of survivors. This second instalment of the trilogy follows their intertwined fates.

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  The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh

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  This epic, colourful narrative encompasses 100 years of history from the British invasion of Mandalay in 1885 until the present day. Through the intimate stories of 3 different families, across 3 different generations, Amitav Ghosh's intoxicating story wonderfully evokes the sights and smells of both old and modern Burma.

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  Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

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  A beautifully-told, moving account of a nine year-old girl who is sent from her family home to the ancient city of Kyoto to become a geisha. From her crippling loneliness, to her Pygmalion-like metamorphosis into a highly skilled artisan, this is both historically fascinating and a mesmerising personal journey.

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  The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories by Theodore W. Goossen

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  A collection of short stories from the end of the 19th century up until the present day. An excellent introduction to Japanese literature with stories covering many aspects of cultural life by authors including Kawabata, Mishima and Murakami.

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  Pakistan by Granta

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  Beautiful art work and interesting, fresh writing - this is a joy to read and a must for anyone keen to read new work. By collecting together the work of Kamila Shamsie, Mohammed Hanif and Daniyal Mueenuddin, among others, Granta has also succeeded in capturing a momentary snapshot of the country on the brink of a cultural explosion.

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  The Quiet American by Graham Greene

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  Powerful and surprising novel about a love triangle between a beautiful Vietnamese girl, a cynical Englishman and an American idealist on the eve of the Vietnam War. Highly recommended.

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  White Ghost Girls by Alice Greenway

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  An evocative novel set in 1960s Hong Kong that tells the story of two sisters, Kate and Frankie, and their intense but troubled relationship. Longlisted for the Orange Prize, this is a coming of age novel that is both poignant and intoxicating.

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  Monkfish Moon by Romesh Gunesekera

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  A collection of nine short stories from Romesh Gunesekera that reveal Sri Lanka as an island of tragic contradiction: intensely beautiful and yet ravaged by a violent and interminable civil war. Powerful, brutal and haunting.

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  Reef by Romesh Gunesekera

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  A sensual novel set in Colombo in the 1970s that reflects the social and political upheaval of the time. Eleven year old Triton is sent to be a cook and house boy to an eminent marine biologist but, just as in the city outside their windows, the peace and contentment of the household begins to disintegrate. Shortlisted for the Booker prize.

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  20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth by Xiaolu Guo

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  Refreshing, comic and endearing novel about Fenfang, a young girl who has fled 1,800 miles from her rural, Chinese, home town to build a thoroughly modern life for herself in Beijing.