Restless Books is an international publisher for a world in motion
We are devoted to championing extraordinary fiction, narrative nonfiction, and young readers’ literature from around the globe.
Featured Titles
Yonder: Restless Books for Young Readers
By Hooda Shawa
Translated from the Arabic by Nour Jaljuli and Sawad Hussain
Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
Two Palestinian teenagers discover secrets that change all they thought they knew about their family histories, and their own futures.
Farida is a talented young painter who recreates European masterpieces under the patronizing eye of a Parisian art dealer. Mazen just arrived in France to hunt for a lost family heirloom. When the two meet during a chance encounter at the Louvre museum, they discover a shared history between their grandmothers, both of whom fled Palestine during the Nakba in 1948. Drawn to one another, Mazen and Farida join forces to unearth their past, but a shadowy ring of art forgers has its sights set on Farida. Can she unravel the mystery before it's too late?
Exploring what it means to live in diaspora, The Necklace of Seven Souls moves from Paris to Haifa, from Aleppo to Tangier, conjuring the jewel tones of the Mediterranean and the bittersweet taste of memory.
Edited by Ilan Stavans
A landmark collection of the philosophers and firebrands that sparked a country’s journey through divinity—praising, challenging, and redefining the sacred.
Spanning more than 400 years of spiritual transformation and imagination, A Nation Wrestles With God collects diverse writers—poets, novelists, theologians, scientists, musicians, politicians, comedians, artists, mavericks, naturalists, futurists, and more—whose daring texts incited change and continue to influence a growing nation. In this anthology, you will find the stories, poems, letters, speeches, sermons, essays, song lyrics, comic strips, newspaper columns, and commentaries that have awoken new generations to free religious thought, from the precolonial to the present day.
By Sofi Stambo
Winner of the 2024 Kellman Prize for Immigrant Literature
Longlisted for the 2026 New American Voices Award
With the puckish humor of Fran Lebowitz and the keen inventiveness of Lydia Davis, Sofi Stambo’s debut collection leans into curiosity, family, and the old-world bonds that draw her motley characters together.
A nervous dog takes flight over Manhattan. A woman soothes her neighbors with multilingual telepathy. A purse snatcher inherits her victim’s scribbled lists—and her worries. In these stories, immigrants to New York City work their way through absurd situations into even messier ones, communing with their fellow diners, officemates, and the local cemetery geese, and greeting chaos with a grin.
From Bulgaria to America, People Who Live Alone Talk Too Much pulls at the threads of daily life, unwinding the ordinary into scenes of hilarity, introspection, and surprising connection.
By Juan Villoro
Translated from the Spanish by Francisco Cantú
Exuberant, playful, and evergreen, The Game at the End of the World revels in the grass-stained highlights of a sport without borders or boundaries.
Soccer (née football) fans will rejoice at this all-new volume of crackling essays from the author of God Is Round. Here, Juan Villoro explores the sport through the elements that make it the world's favorite pastime, from its ancient origins, mythic players, exhilarating matches, endemic rivalries, and the unlikely moments in which football has changed history.
A prolific writer and chronicler of World Cup games around the world, Villoro draws on our global cultural mosaic to inspire readers, players, and fans long after the final whistle blows. With a philosopher's wit and a journalist's ear, he has produced a book for curious newcomers and lifelong football fiends alike.
Read excerpts from the book in The Paris Review, The Rumpus, and Latin American Literature Today, and Villoro’s recent articles about the 2026 World Cup in The New York Times and The Equator.
Coming Soon
By Karim Kattan
Translated from the French by Jeffrey Zuckerman
In a land forgotten by time, swept by sandstorms, and burdened by occupation, two young Palestinian men fall in love.
In the labyrinthine city of Jerusalem, where poets woo their lovers with tales of jinns, lions, and warriors, Isaac and Gabriel pass in the streets, unaware of one another until biblical Egyptian winds bring enough sand to blot out the heavens. From their first meeting, desire blooms, hesitates, withdraws, and returns in a heady romance recounted by the sky itself, who cranes past rooftops and through windows to glimpse the pair. Defying checkpoints, desert squalls, and blazing heat, Gabriel and Isaac embark on a road trip through Jericho and past the Dead Sea to a storied village in the West Bank—a daring act in a divided country.
Lyrical and languorous, shattering and profound, Eden at Dawn is a feast of love in the midst of war. With this North American debut, lauded author Karim Kattan proves that storytelling is the ultimate act of devotion.
Yonder: Restless Books for Young Readers | Ages 5–8
By Jung-min Kwon
Translated from the Korean by Jamie Chang
When a busy mom turns into a clock, her daughter discovers that even grown-ups need rest. A whimsical story about time, love, and self-care.
“You have ten minutes to get ready! Three minutes until lights out! One more minute to read!” Like children everywhere, one young girl is all too familiar with reminders about time—especially from her mother. When she wishes her mom would stop talking about time altogether, it comes true . . . almost. Her mom turns into a big blue clock.
With her clock-mother ticking beside her, the girl sets off on her scooter to find help. The clock hospital is closed for vacation, but the clock spa—a magical place where worn-out clocks can rest, relax, and be repaired—is open. Thanks to a wise woman and a little respite, time begins to make sense again.
By Kim Hye-jin
Translated from the Korean by Jamie Chang
Winner of the 2020 Daesan Literary Award
With shades of Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice and Choi Jin-young’s Hunger, Employee No. 9 runs a psychological gauntlet of money, power, personal responsibility, and the daily struggle for survival.
No. 9 is in trouble. His son’s college tuition is coming due, his wife needs surgery after taking double shifts at a grocery store, the apartment building they bought as a nest egg is falling apart, and the company he helped build is trying to force him into early retirement. When he refuses, the mid-level IT man is demoted to sales and given increasingly impossible tasks. As his salary dwindles and the humiliations mount, No. 9 must decide where his loyalties lie. If he fights back, how far will the company go to stop him?
With her urgent and timely novel, award-winning Korean author Kim Hye-jin questions how long we can endure a broken system. In a rigged game, is there an alternative to playing out your hand?
By Patrick Ness
Matthew and Greaves are made for each other. It's in their stars—if they could only meet in the right timeline.
Matthew is determined to write one last book, and through its pages find his way back to his beloved husband Greaves, who was killed years earlier in a mass shooting. Their story begins in a backcountry bar, swigging Victoria Bitters. Or was it on the moors of Wheatley Manor, or the polished deck of the Celestia? A gruff laugh, wide shoulders, that undefinable scent—details flash and vanish as he reaches for them. Has age dulled his memory, or is something else keeping him subdued? When a familiar voice breaks through with a clear message—"You have to get out"—Matthew makes a bid for freedom that launches both men across time and space in pursuit of one another.
From a near-future dystopia to the trenches of Europe, from the American frontier to a town of teenage ghosts, from an interplanetary ship to the steps of the Sydney Opera House, Meridian is transgressive, mischievous, and miraculous. Ness gets to the crux of the question: who gets to tell our stories? And who gets to write the ending?
Support Our Mission
Your support enables us to discover and promote extraordinary authors from around the world, champion perspectives beyond the confines of the familiar, and take risks in our editorial choices, emphasizing literary value over market trends. It’s because of our readers’ and partners’ generosity that we can achieve our mission.
Join Our Readers Club!
As a member of the Restless Readers Club, you will receive six books a year for just ten dollars a month.
You will journey through our latest and greatest books with us: we will send you unmissable English-language debuts, essential immigrant voices, and giants of literature from far-flung places.
You will also receive a members-only discount code, surprise galleys, and more!
Be the first one to learn about upcoming books, immigrant writing workshops, events with authors, and opportunities to immerse yourself in great global literature.
Subscribe
Come visit our storefront
69 Main Street, Amherst, MA 01002
Monday to Friday, 10:00–4:00
Great books are waiting for you!