5. Disgrace. JM Coetzee. South Africa. (1999)
The Observer called this the best novel of the last 25 years. In a very controversial story, Coetzee examines post-apartheid South Africa through the lens of a white South African professor. A teacher of ramntic poetry at a university, David Lurie is fired for seducing one of his university students and finds himself staying at his daughter’s farm in an effort to get his life back in order. There, he settles into the rhythm of rural life only to find himself trying to deal with aftermath of brutal gang attack that leaves his daughter raped and himself badly beaten. This struggle with pain, both physical and emotional leads David to discover some unpleasant and indeed unromantic truths about the nature of humans, politics and life.

4. White Teeth. Zadie Smith. UK. (2000)
White Teeth focuses on the later lives of two wartime friends - the Bangladeshi Samad Iqbal and the Englishman Archie Jones, and their families. Spanning 25 years, the novel details the assimilation of the families into North London culture and along the way illuminates the plight of immigrants, the role of culture, religion, history and ethnicity in society. The novel begins with a failed suicide and ends with a birth and along the way introduces us to everyone from Nazi scientists, mad scientists, militant muslims and a variety of intermingaled families. Full of humour and pathos it was heralded as one the best debut novels in recent memory.

3.Life of Pi. Yann Martel. Canada. (2001)
The Life of Pi follows the strange journey of Pi, a young Indian boy whose zookeeper father decides immigrate to Canada with his family and some of the zoo animals. On the way, their ship sinks and Pi is cast adrift in a lifeboat with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan, and a huge Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. The animals battle for survival in the cramped boat as Pi tries to avoid being part of the food chain. Eventually, just the tiger and he are left in the life raft. They develop a mutually beneficial relationship and save each other from various disasters. The novel ends with a dramatic twist that raises questions about the true identity of Pi.

2. Atonement. Ian McEwan. UK. (2001)
Atonement is “about” lying, guilt, penitence and art. It lures readers in with the promise of a morality tale set in the English countryside of 1935. There will be a crime, but once the reader thinks they are in for a comfortable mystery they are snagged and McEwan takes them into far more menacing territory. The book tells stories from different vantage points, all coloured with the expectant air of war and the English class system. Central to the novel is an adolescent, Briony Tallis, whose taste for drama and demand for attention lead her to tell a terrible lie about a family friend. The novel then unfurls the agonizing and extreme consequences of her falsehood.

1. The Kite Runner. Kahled Hosseini. Afghanistan. (2003)
This novel tells the story of Amir, a well-to-do Pashtun boy from Kabul in Afghanistan, who is haunted by guilt. Amir enjoys a life of privilege that is shaped by his brotherly friendship with Hassan, his servant's son. While Amir constantly feels he is a failure in his father's eyes, Hassan can do no wrong. This leads to conflict and the two boys compete in a kite running tournament which Amir wins. But the win leads to tragedy. Amir moves to America but cannot get over the events of that day and eventually he returns to right the wrongs that began at the kite running. The story is set against a backdrop of tumultuous recent history of Afghanistan, from the Sixties, through the Soviet invasion, and finally the oppression of the Taliban regime.

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