Tash Aw’s brilliant novel Map of the Invisible World explores the lure of home and family. It takes place in 1965, during a particularly bloody crackdown on Dutch citizens in Sukarno’s Indonesia. Karl, who moved back to his island home from a sojourn in America, is arrested by the Indonesian police. Margaret, an American professor who knew Karl in the U.S., and Adam, his adopted son, both travel to Jakarta to search for him.
Aw’s first published work of fiction, The Harmony Silk Factory, provided a strong hint of his talents — and his second book confirms them. So, remember, you read it here first: I believe that someday Aw will win a well-deserved Nobel Prize for Literature. (Nancy Pearl, NPR)