FILIT 2026 · Essential Reads

A dystopian novel set in a collapsing Ireland, exploring the terrifying reality of a society descending into totalitarianism through the eyes of a mother trying to protect her family.

A charming and poignant novel about a young woman who, after losing her husband, finds unexpected love with an unconventional colleague.

A powerful saga following an Iranian woman's life from childhood through marriage and motherhood, set against the backdrop of Iran's tumultuous 20th-century history.

A novel intertwining the true story of a young Jewish immigrant's murder in 1908 Chicago with a contemporary writer's journey to research the event.

A debut novel exploring family secrets, identity, and the complexities of love across generations in Montreal and Egypt, following a doctor's life and hidden past.

When a young book publicist finds herself in an all-consuming workplace affair with her literary idol, she learns that the things you love most can sometimes be the very things that tear you apart in this intoxicating and moving debut novel.

A poignant and humorous novel about the unlikely friendship between two lonely men in a park in Tokyo, exploring themes of solitude, connection, and the weight of expectations.

A darkly comedic novel about a slacker in his late twenties living with his mother in downtown Reykjavík, navigating a chaotic existence and unconventional relationships.

A satirical and adventurous novel about a group of men attempting to smuggle a pipeline full of carbide from Ukraine into the European Union.

Vulcan is a novel of multiple storylines coming together to build an image of Bulgaria’s surrealist and fantastic present, from within and from without. Ultimately, it is also a dream seen by Klaus Schimmelhoff, a demented former pop-art celebrity with Alzheimer, now mostly forgotten and living in his penthouse studio with his Bulgarian nurse Magda. Magda’s daughter, suffering from a rare and curious condition, encounters an elderly businessman whose latest ambition is to produce green energy out of cow dung. This is how a plot develops into a grimly ironic but also hilarious tale of contemporary society marked by the diverse absurdities of human existence.

International bestseller Neko Café is a captivating and illuminating novel about the wisdom of cats, which can lead you to love and self-fulfillment. What is a cat cafe and how can it help us discover our ikigai, the one that makes us feel truly alive? Anna Sólyom gives the perfect answer in this novel that invites us into the universe of the most pampered felines in the world: cats. Or "children", as Yumi, the Japanese owner of the cafe, calls them, where the most important customers are seven beautiful, fussy, musical, temperamental, gentle or one of those cats that you should only approach when they let you. Alongside them, Nagore, returned to Spain at a time when she feels she has lost everything that matters, learns to enjoy the little pleasures, rediscovering herself. At Neko Café, life lessons come in the form of tails hanging from a basket or a pair of curious eyes that remind you that, to be happy, all you need is one cat – or seven – and a moment of respite.