Books by Susan Choi
“Flashlight opens with the mysterious disappearance of a young academic from a beach. Though his young daughter, Louisa, is found, she barely remembers all that has just happened. From there, the story traces the many lives of a man once known as Seok Kang. Around them orbit a cast of vivid secondary characters whose lives mirror and refract the novel’s central questions, from Serk’s relatives who left Japan for North Korea in search of dignity, to the friends and acquaintances whose lives intersect with Louisa and Anne’s lives through the years. As you read, you’ll notice fragments that quietly return, fitting back into the story in unexpected but powerfully resonant ways. It is a sweeping and profound novel, rendered with exquisite attention to detail.” Read more...
The Best Novels of 2025: The Booker Prize Shortlist
Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, Novelist
Interviews where books by Susan Choi were recommended
The Best Political Novels of 2026: The Orwell Prize for Fiction, recommended by The judges of the 2026 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction
“Politics, in its widest sense, courses through all these books. The eight finalists…have thought long and hard about abortion, contraception, gay rights, geopolitics, corruption, religious dogma, regulating technology and treating mental illness. Though these books are all quite different, they are united in showing how much a life of political engagement is a life of purpose and connection with humanity,” says Fiammetta Rocca, chair of the judging panel of this year’s Orwell Prize for Political Fiction.
The Best Novels of 2025: The Booker Prize Shortlist, recommended by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀
We spoke to Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, the novelist and judge on this year’s Booker Prize panel, about their 2025 shortlist: a varied line-up of six novels, from a work of historical fiction set in a frozen rural England to an experimental ‘Rorschach blot’ of a novel told in two conflicting parts.
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1
What We Can Know: A Novel
by Ian McEwan -
2
We Do Not Part
by Han Kang, translated by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris -
3
Flashlight: A Novel
by Susan Choi -
4
The Life of Violet
by Virginia Woolf -
5
Dream Count
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie -
6
Heart Lamp: Selected Stories
by Banu Mushtaq, translated by Deepa Bhasthi
New Literary Fiction
New Literary Fiction
Keep up to date with the best new releases in literary fiction here on Five Books. Our deputy editor, Cal Flyn, an award-winning author herself, writes seasonal round-ups of the best new novels from ‘literary’ writers: from buzzed-about debuts to critics’ darlings, new work from the globally recognised greats and beloved sleeper hits from writers’ writers. We love it all here at Five Books.
Notable New Novels of Summer 2025, recommended by Cal Flyn
If you are looking for your next favourite read, why not try one of these five buzzed-about novels published in the summer of 2025? We’ve put together a summary of the new fiction books that have caught our eye this season, from the latest, brilliantly ambitious offering from Susan Choi to the most hotly anticipated debut novels.
