Obabakoak

Written in Basque, one of Europe's oldest and most isolated languages, and then translated by Atxaga himself into Spanish before reaching English — Obabakoak has passed through more versions of itself than almost any book on this list. It is a novel about stories within stories, voices within voices, and the strange life that language takes on when it travels. That it exists at all feels like a minor miracle. That it is this good feels like something else entirely.