Summer Challenge 2026: A Real Place You've Never Heard Of

Looking for help completing your Summer Challenge Bingo Card? Here are some suggestions for books that are set in real places you might never have heard of!

Updated June 27, 2026
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She Who Remains
Angel, Izidora
Paper Book
Shortlisted for The International Booker Prize 2026 She Who Remains,Rene Karabash's landmark Bulgarian queer novel, secrets readers into a rural Albanian village where, to this day, the Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini--a collection of archaic laws--looms over the lives...
The mercies : a novel
Hargrave, Kiran Millwood
Paper Book
Historically, the mass media have marginalized women's sports by devoting more coverage to men's sports and trying to appeal to a male audience. This volume analyzes the mass media's portrayal of women's sports. The Olympic Games are highlighted because they provide one of the few sports arenas...
Bride and groom
Ganieva, Alisa
Paper Book
One of The Globe and Mail's Top 100 Books of 2018 One of World Literature Today's Notable Translations of 2018 One of the Asian Book Review's Best Books of 2018 From one of the most exciting voices in modern Russian literature, Alisa Ganieva, comes...
We do not part : a novel
Han, Kang
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD IN FICTION NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR ONE OF THE ATLANTIC'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR ONE OF THE...
Watch us dance
Slimani, Leïla
Paper Book
"A rich family saga . . . [written with] voluptuous lyricism and emotional precision." --The Washington Post The rebellions within an interracial family play out against the countercultural rebellions of the 1960s in this sexy, stylish, sophisticated new novel by the award...
White Nights
Honek, Urszula
Paper Book
LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE  In a village in the remote countryside of southern Poland, it's as if the poverty and brutality emanate like mist from the cursed dirt. The thirteen interconnected stories in White Nights tell of families,...
Cantoras
De Robertis, Carolina
Paper Book
"Cantoras is a stunning lullaby to revolution--and each woman in this novel sings it with a deep ferocity. Again and again, I was lifted, then gently set down again--either through tears, rage, or laughter. Days later, I am still inside this song of a story." --Jacqueline Woodson, National...

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