The House of Yan by Lan Yan. Nonfiction/memoir. This is the true story of a family at the heart of a century in Chinese history. The author’s family were part of China’s elite, but that didn’t do them any favours when the Cultural Revolution came along. As well as being her family’s story this is also about the last 100 years of China, seen through a very personal lens.

The Year Without Summer by Guinevere Glasfurd. In 1815, a supervolcanic eruption on Mt Tambora in Indonesia resulted in massive climate disruption causing famine, poverty and riots. This book tells the story of characters in Europe, Britain and America – none of whom had heard of that volcano, and none of whom could escape its effects, in a year when the world went dark. Definite parallels with modern times!