Books like Death Is Hard Work by Khaled Khalifa

The Kite Runner follows an unlikely friendship between a privileged boy and the son of his father’s servant amid Afghanistan’s turbulent history, exploring betrayal, redemption, and the father‑son bond.

Middlesex follows a Greek-American family's multigenerational saga, charting the life of its intersex protagonist as they navigate gender identity and the search for belonging.

The Bell Jar is the sole novel by Sylvia Plath, a psychologically intense and autobiographical look at a young woman’s decline into mental illness.

A tense psychological thriller that pits FBI agent Clarice Starling against the notorious cannibalistic serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter as they collaborate to catch a new predator.

Madeleine Thien’s memoir‑style novel traces an intergenerational Chinese family from Mao’s Cultural Revolution to present‑day Vancouver, exploring how political upheaval reshaped musicians, parents and children across time.

Two women—a Filipino translator and an American filmmaker—travel across Duterte’s Philippines, each crafting a script that reexamines the 1901 Balangiga massacre, exploring how history and identity collide through their divergent narratives.

A bustling Chinese immigrant family’s fortune crashes, forcing them on a cross‑country road trip that tests their bonds and redefines what home means.

A woman’s Indian family navigates marriage, identity, and belonging across generations, tracing the parents’ arrival in the U.S., the daughter’s wedding, and the estranged son’s return.

A multigenerational family saga of American radicals, following two women—Rose Zimmer, the “Red Queen” of Sunnyside, and her daughter Miriam in Greenwich Village—through the shifting tides of 20th‑century political movements.

In 1973 a flavor chemist discovers an artificial sweetener that may be linked to growing societal discontent, as his family's life spirals in a comedic yet thought‑provoking satire.

A 25‑year‑old Iranian woman in Paris confronts the legacy of her family—flamboyant ancestors, political resistance, and a complex past—while facing the life she hopes to build for herself and future generations.

The incredible true story of the attempted assassination of Palestinian, Khalid Mishal.September 1997: In an Amman street in broad daylight five men claiming to be Canadian tourists accost a Palestinian and inject a mysterious chemical into his ear. Within 48 hours it should kill him, leaving no trace. The perfect political assassination.In fact, the assailants were Mossad agents and their target was Khalid Mishal, at that time head of Hamas's political bureau in Jordan. But after 48 hours Mishal was not dead. Instead, the prime minister of Israel, the president of the United States and the king of Jordan were locked in intense negotiations to save his life.Kill Khalid unveils one of the most bizarre assassination attempts in the last quarter century and ultimately follows its participants as they grapple with the unforeseen outcome of this drama. In a headlong narrative - with high-speed car chases, negotiated prisoner exchanges, and an international scandal that threatened to destabilise the entire region - acclaimed reporter Paul McGeough uses unprecedented extensive interviews with Khalid Mishal himself and the key players in Amman, Jerusalem and Washington, to tell the definitive, inside story of the rise of Hamas, in whose hands the future of the Israel-Palestine conflict now firmly rests."This is that rare and most exciting of books - a serious political history that reads like a fast-paced thriller. The cast includes presidents, politicians, spies, diplomats and murderers who play out their destinies against a background of conspiracy and intrigue." Phillip Knightley

A fiction novel that examines family life, sibling rivalry, and the allure of tall tales, and has been reviewed by the New York Times.

A melancholy coming‑of‑age tale set in Tokyo, seen through the eyes of college student Toru Watanabe as he confronts love, loss, friendship, and mental health.