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The best translated fiction to read right now

The best translated fiction to read right now

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Looking to discover some of the most exciting fiction being translated into English? Whether you are new to books in translation or already read widely across world literature, translated fiction offers a way into different literary traditions, voices and imaginative worlds.

This selection brings together contemporary novels, modern classics and rediscoveries, speculative fiction, satire, noir and short reads from Vintage. Some are unsettling and philosophical; others are funny, tender, surreal or quietly consoling. All show how rich, varied and surprising literature in translation can be.

Summary

Discover standout translated books from Vintage, Harvill and Vintage Classics, including Haruki Murakami, Yoko Ogawa, Jacqueline Harpman, Italo Calvino, Colette, Beatriz Serrano and more.

Popular translated books to start with

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, translated by Ros Schwartz

Of course the list must start with one of the most buzzed-about classics of the past few years. If you're one of the readers who hasn't picked up this disquieting, powerful classic yet, it might be time to change that.

Deep underground, thirty-nine women are kept in isolation in a cage. Above ground, a world awaits. Has it been abandoned? Devastated by a virus?

You might not get the answers to all the questions this novel raises, but it will be a story that stays with you long after you've turned the final page.

The Wall by Marlen Haushofer, translated by Shaun Whiteside

A woman staying in the Austrian mountains wakes into an impossible situation: a transparent wall has appeared, cutting her off from the rest of human life. What follows is not a conventional thriller, but a patient, unsettling account of survival: food, animals, weather, fear, labour and the gradual remaking of the self.

The Wall is ideal for readers who loved the atmosphere and unanswered questions of I Who Have Never Known Men, but want a novel rooted more closely in nature and the everyday mechanics of staying alive.

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa, translated by Stephen Snyder

On an unnamed island, objects begin to disappear: hats, ribbons, birds, roses. Most people forget them almost immediately, but those who remember live in fear of the Memory Police. When a young novelist realises her editor is one of those unable to forget, she tries to protect him. Ogawa’s novel is quiet rather than explosive, making its atmosphere of control feel even more disturbing.

This new Vintage Japanese Classics edition is a strong choice for readers looking for fiction about authoritarian power, private memory and the fragile act of preservation.

Contemporary fiction in translation

Discontent by Beatriz Serrano, translated by Mara Faye Lethem

Marisa’s life looks enviable from the outside: a Madrid apartment, a lover downstairs, and a fast-rising career at an advertising agency. The problem is that she hates her job. When she is sent to give a talk on creativity at a team-building retreat, the pressure, absurdity and emotional strain of work push her close to breaking point. Discontent is a crisp, biting novel for anyone who has felt trapped by the rituals of corporate life, and a timely addition for readers searching for translated fiction about burnout, loneliness and the desire for something more.

Soyangri Book Kitchen by Kim Jee Hye, translated by Shanna Tan

Far from Seoul, Soyangri Book Kitchen offers shelves, food and an overnight bookstay to people in need of pause. Across a year, seven visitors arrive at Yoojin’s sanctuary, each facing a personal turning point. A singer is questioning her identity, a lawyer is living with a difficult diagnosis, and a young musical director is struggling with failure. This is a welcoming choice for readers who want translated fiction that feels restorative without becoming slight: a novel about the way books, kindness and a change of pace can quietly alter a life.

When the Museum is Closed by Emi Yagi, translated by Yuki Tejima

From the bestselling author of Diary of a Void, round out your joyful, cosy translation reading with this queer love story in which a museum worker falls in love with the statue of Venus she is hired to converse with after the museum closes to the public.

By turns charming, funny and surprising, When the Museum is Closed is a surreal take on our most real emotions and concerns: love, loneliness, freedom, perceptions of beauty and how women are seen in society.

Want to know what it's like to be a translator? You can read Yuki Tejima's experience meeting Emi for the first time here.

The Forest Called You by Amil, translated by Joheun Lee

In a future Korea, those with money retreat from a damaged world into virtual simulations of the past. Soop, a high school student who cannot access VR, remains painfully exposed to the real world and finds comfort in K-pop. When her favourite idol Yichae comes to film at her school, both characters are drawn into questions of connection, authenticity and performance. The Forest Called You speaks directly to current reader interest in Korean fiction, fandom and near-future worlds, while using its speculative premise to ask what it means to remain real in an artificial culture.

Classics, noir and literary rediscoveries

I Am a Cat by Natsume Soseki, translated by Nick Bradley

A genre all of its own, Japanese cat fiction has been taking bookshelves by storm. First published at the turn of the twentieth century, and regarded as one of Japan’s most iconic classics, I Am a Cat is a captivating exploration of identity, society, and the often bewildering nature of the human condition—all seen through the eyes of a very special, uncompromising cat.

Discover one of the original cat classics, now with a vibrant new translation by Nick Bradley, author of The Cat and the City.

We Are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cabezón Camara, translated by Robin Myers

Based on the life of Antonio de Erauso, a real figure from the Spanish conquest, We Are Green and Trembling is a masterful criticism of religious tyranny and the mistreatment of women and indigenous people.

This queer, baroque, tender and surreal novel conveys glimmers of hope for the future within the brutal colonial history of Latin America – finding in the rainforest a magical space where transformation is not only possible but necessary.

The Image of Her by Simone de Beauvoir, translated by Lauren Elkin

Sometimes the name of the translator can be as big of a draw as the name of the author - and in the case of the novel that we end this list with, that is certainly true!

Translated by Lauren Elkin, The Image of Her follows a woman who appears to live an ideal life, but a life that has always been overwritten by the expectation of perfection.

It is only when her 10-year-old daughter starts to vocalise her despair about the unfairness of the world that she begins to act, finally grappling with a life that prizes image over truth.

Fatale by Jean-Patrick Manchette, translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith

Aimée is beautiful, precise and lethal. She arrives in the town of Bléville ready to exploit its grudges, corruption and simmering resentments, playing a familiar game: stir up trouble, set people against one another, and disappear with money and blood behind her. This time, however, the game begins to turn. Manchette’s Fatale is short, stylish and merciless, making it an ideal recommendation for readers who want translated fiction outside the usual literary lanes: a French noir that uses crime, farce and destruction as instruments of satire.

Short classics in translation

Woman of Genius by Simone de Beauvoir, translated by Lauren Elkin

Two sisters, Marcelle and Marguerite, are trying to find their way through a world designed to limit them. Marcelle imagines herself as the companion of a “man of genius”, while Marguerite’s survival depends on escaping the expectations placed upon her. Both direct their attention toward the same disappointing man. In a brief space, de Beauvoir examines the stories women are encouraged to build their lives around, and the cost of believing in someone else’s genius before recognising one’s own freedom.

We Were Forbidden by Jacqueline Harpman, translated by Ros Schwartz

This collection gathers three never-before-translated stories from Jacqueline Harpman: “The Ardennes Forest”, “The Outcast” and “The Broom Cupboard”. Across them, women face strange and rigid systems of control: a forest that cannot be left, a schooling that cannot be questioned, a marriage that confines the body and the will. For readers who discovered Harpman through I Who Have Never Known Men, this is a concise way to encounter another side of her imagination: spare, strange, sharp and deeply alert to the violence of obedience.

The Castle of Crossed Destinies by Italo Calvino, translated by William Weaver

A group of travellers meet first in a castle, then in a tavern. Having mysteriously lost the power of speech, they can tell their stories only through tarot cards. As the cards are laid down, their tales begin to overlap, echo and contradict one another, forming a fantastic map of human desire and interpretation. Calvino’s novella is small in scale but expansive in implication: a book about how stories are made, how meaning is arranged, and how language persists even when speech disappears.

The Cat by Colette, translated by Antonia White

A young marriage begins to sour around the presence of a cat: adored by the husband, despised by the wife. What might sound like a small domestic conflict becomes, in Colette’s hands, an unsettling study of rivalry, resentment and emotional imbalance. The Cat is brief but precise, showing how hostility can gather around an apparently ordinary household object — or animal — until the marriage itself is exposed. It is a perfect short classic for readers who like fiction that is elegant on the surface and quietly vicious beneath.

Frequently asked questions

What is translated fiction?

Translated fiction is fiction first written and published in one language, then translated and published in another. For English-language readers, it is one of the richest ways to discover literary voices, traditions and genres from around the world.

What is Japanese cat fiction?

This is a popular genre featuring novels and stories centred on cats that often fall into cosy fiction categories. Popular examples include The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa and The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa.

The best translated fiction to read right now

Summary

Popular translated books to start with

Contemporary fiction in translation

The best Korean fiction in translation

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Classics, noir and literary rediscoveries

Short classics in translation

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