INTERNATIONAL BOOKS
Fiction
Inland
Téa Obreht (Hachette, $45)
Ever heard of the US Camel Corps? Me neither. The short-lived experiment (1855-1864) saw camels introduced into the US Army because they could bear enormous weights. (Turns out they had downsides, too.) Lurie, a young outlaw, falls in with the Turks driving the “beasts of burden” across the country. Lurie chats to dead friends, so if you don’t like that sort of thing, skip past this review. But magic realism is Téa Obreht’s signature move, and she does it well. The novel cuts between long periods with Lurie and a day in the life of drought-stricken frontierswoman Nora. Can you remake your life out here on (2011). It had been too long between books.
