Dead Aid, By Dambisa Moyo

In the aftermath of genocidal war, a traumatised survivor of death camps trails back to the village where he grew up as a suspect immigrant. Soon he finds that – an outsider himself – he must compile a report to whitewash neighbours who have murdered an outlandish visitor.

Written with an unsettling, painterly beauty (and lyrically translated by John Cullen), this almost hallucinogenic novel from the outstanding French writer and director (I've Loved You So Long) will never let you go. His fable fuses Kafka and the Grimms into a Gothic vision that leads us through the deepest forests of the European mind.