Best of 2008 Picks -- Gwyneth Jones

Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis was originally a French published graphic novel, the autobiography of a rebel child growing up in Iran, and becoming a Punk, at the time of the 1979 revolution; filmed as a black and white animation in 2007, won the Jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Oscar nominated. I saw the movie in May 2008, and it blew me away. The heroine is beguiling, the drawing is just beautiful, a delight to the eye, the deconstruction of how it really feels to be an Iranian girl (and a young woman) will startle and humble you; the story of the expatriate teenager, who really doesn't know which way is up, transcends nationality and culture: really struck a chord with me, anyway. Tragic, undaunted, also very funny indeed. If you haven't seen it, buy it. Excellent.

Zoe Ferraris' The Night of Mir'aj (published in the US as Finding Nouf) I'm a big fan of thrillers as comfort food (couldn't tell you how many Swedish police procedurals, in translation nb, I've consumed this year), but just occasionally I strike something completely different. The Night of Mir'aj is set in Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia, it's the story of the death of a young woman, the life of another woman, the amazing Katya, who practices as a forensic pathologist in the most forbidding conditions; and the journey made by one man of goodwill; as he tries to reconcile their two narratives with his own unquestioned, devout and narrow Islamism.

The Sunday Times said that 'Ferraris's remarkable debut is a tense psychological drama, and a riveting portrait of everyday life in a society with paranoid attitudes towards women and sex' And that's the middle of the road view... I believe this is the pilot of a series, and if so I'm glad to know there'll be more. But this book is a star: a top-quality novel that deserves to stand alone.