All right I'm gonna go the patriotic way and recommend a few Danish authors....
Everything by Hans Christian Andersen, not just his fairytales are good, several of his novels are just mindblowing!
Miss Smillas Sense of Snow - Peter Høeg
Out of Africa - Isak Dinesen (actually a pseudonym for Karen Blixen)
Seven Gothic Tales - Isak Dinesen
On a wider scope I also enjoyed Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.
A Tree grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith is another all time favorite.
Alexander Kent and C.S Forester both writes historical naval fiction and I absolutely love their books!!!
The list is of course much longer....
Duetta