Making ‘best of the year’ lists is always an uphill task, not because there are few choices but because there are so many. When making this list, we’ve focused on writers and books that we think our readers are mostly likely to enjoy, and that have regional significance. The resulting longlist is an interesting mix: from international bestsellers to Pakistani-American writers who dared to go beyond clichéd plots revolving around a post 9/11 world that have become the hallmark of Pakistani fiction, to the last book penned by the late Terry Pratchett who has a very large following in the country.

1. Karachi Raj
By Anis Shivani

Poet and short story writer Shivani’s debut novel follows its three main characters, Seema and Hafiz, residents of the Basti, and Claire, an anthropologist, as they navigate and negotiate the hierarchies and nuances of Karachi. While this fast-paced novel is populated with characters, central to the novel is the city itself: resilient and defiant.

2. Flood of Fire
By Amitav Ghosh

In this third installation of the Ibis trilogy, Ghosh’s reimagining of the events that led to the first opium war of 1839-42 comes to its conclusion. A gripping historical narrative that captures the political tension of the conflict.

3. City of Spies
By Sorayya Khan

Khan’s third novel explores the politics and intrigues of Islamabad in the ’70s through the eyes of 11-year-old Aliya. A coming-of-age story, a mystery, and a moral story all combined into one.

4. A Brief History of Seven Killings
By Marlon James

The winner of the Man Booker Prize 2015, James’s novel is a gripping narrative told from the point of view of over 70 narrators and tells the story of the attempted assassination of the reggae singer, Bob Marley, and the political tumult of Jamaica of the ’70s and ’80s.

5. A Strangeness in My Mind
By Orhan Pamuk

The Nobel Prize winner’s most recent novel (published in Turkish in 2014 and translated into English in 2015) is a sprawling tale that deals with the history and complexity of one of the most culturally rich cities in the world, Istanbul, and is told from the perspective of a street vendor, Mevlut.

6. Purity
By Jonathan Franzen

Franzen is back with another dense and intricate plot that revolves around secrets, the surveillance state and whistle-blowing. Laced with dark humour and Franzen’s hallmark exploration and deconstruction of cultural myths, Purity is classic Franzen.

7. The Heart Goes Last
By Margaret Atwood

The master raconteur’s most recent speculative fiction can be best described as a ‘kinky dystopic tale’ — and is an exploration of totalitarianism, self-determination and what happens when technology meets sex.

8. In the Unlikely Event
By Judy Blume

The queen of teen fiction’s first adult novel since 1998 explores the effect of three plane crashes on a small American town in the 1950s. An intimate tale that takes a close look at loss and what it does to the loved ones left behind.

9. The Shepherd’s Crown
By Terry Pratchett

The much-loved author’s last book, published posthumously, revolves around Tiffany Aching’s succession as chief witch and a battle with the elves — the beloved master storyteller at his best in the last novel of the Discworld series.

10. The Story of the Lost Child
By Elena Ferrante

One of the most anticipated novels of 2015 and the last book in the Neapolitan series — which follows two best friends Elena and Lily — by its now famous, anonymous author is a deeper look at the psychology and the darker side of friendships.