ISLAND OF A THOUSAND MIRRORS

By Nayomi Munaweera. (St. Martin's Press, 256 pages, $24.99.)

This beautiful, heartbreaking debut novel is completely arresting, both as the story of two young women whose lives take different paths that circle back to each other, and as a history of Sri Lanka's bloody, barbaric civil war, which ended (for now) in 2009 after the ethnic Sinhalese rulers crushed their fierce rivals, the rebels of the ethnic Tamil minority.

Each side treated the other with shocking brutality, torturing and slaughtering tens of thousands of civilians. Not only does this novel open the door to that terrible but not terribly well-known history, but it will make you want to know more about beautiful, blood-soaked Sri Lanka. Most important of all, it tells the story of two women caught up in that awful drama. The first, Yasodhara, who is Sinhalese, is able to flee to Los Angeles with her family, just as Munaweera herself did at age 12. The second, Saraswathi, becomes a Tamil Tiger rebel after being gang-raped and nearly killed by Sinhalese soldiers.

Munaweera is a beautiful writer, and never lets her protagonists become representatives of a group or movement. They are singular individuals who go through the throes of difficult adolescence and thwarted love, just as most young women all over the world do. Yet they can't help but be swept into the political maelstrom around them, and even Yasodhara, who becomes thoroughly American, cannot escape the ravages and sorrows of that terrible war.

"Island of a Thousand Mirrors" is one of the best war novels I've read, and the best book that's come my way in 2014. May it be widely read — in Sri Lanka, the United States, everywhere.

PAMELA MILLER, West/north news editor

101 TWO-LETTER WORDS

By Stephin Merritt, illustrated by Roz Chast. (W.W. Norton, 216 pages, $19.95.)

Scrabble players know the value of a well-placed two-letter word. Dropping "za" onto the board, with the Z on a triple-letter-square, can bring your opponent to his or her knees. But if you've ever wondered what all those funny little words mean, Stephin Merritt and Roz Chast can tell you.

"Island of a Thousand Mirrors" by Nayomi Munaweera

Their new book, "101 Two-Letter Words" (written by Merritt, illustrated by Chast) is a funny rhyming dictionary that brings you from "aa" (a kind of lava! Really?) to "za" (best eaten cold for breakfast). In between are "bo" (Scottish for friend), "na" (Scottish for not) and "qi" (Chinese! Not Scottish!). A fun little book. And after you've memorized all the words, you can still go back and admire Chast's spiky, quirky illustrations.

LAURIE HERTZEL, Senior editor/books