Frankie recommends... International Booker WINNER 2026 | Taiwan Travelogue - Yang Shuang-zi, translated by Lin King

Frankie says... A worthy winner of the International Booker Prize. This is the sort of book that makes you appreciate what the novel form can achieve, and how beautifully tender that language can be. Shuang-zi and King are like dancers, bringing the text to life through touching word choice and rare moments of shining narrative gems. It was an utterly convincing "mid-century novel" that deftly approached colonialism, classism and queerness so carefully that you won't even realise its power, so that by the end - like a frog in a slowly boiling pot - you are overcome with the heat, power and raw emotion of Chi-chan and Aoyama-san's orbits. So impressive and immersive. A word of warning, however: don't read while hungry!!!

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Disguised as a translation of a rediscovered text by a Japanese writer, Taiwan Travelogue is a bittersweet story of love between two women, nested in an artful exploration of language, history and power. Set in May 1938, the young novelist Aoyama Chizuko sails from Japan to Taiwan where her interpreter proffers tantalising glimpses of island life and helps her to taste as much of cuisine as her larger-than-life appetite can bear.