STAYCATION SENSATIONS
Unmissable guide to best holiday reads
THE lives of twin sisters, born black but with skin so pale they could pass for white, are mapped with compassion and insight in this triumph of empathetic storytelling. It examines the politics of race and gender across several decades in 20thcentury America. A terrific novel.
A REGISTRY OF MY PASSAGE UPON THE EARTH by Daniel Mason (Picador €21)
SHORT stories are great to have in a beach bag. These dazzling examples immerse the reader within sharply contrasting historical scenarios with a power that feels almost physical. The opening story, about a boxing match in 1820s Bristol, is extraordinary.
A THEATRE FOR DREAMERS by Polly Samson (Bloomsbury €19.60)
IN 1960, the Greek island of Hydra was home to, among others, a young Leonard Cohen, his muse Marianne Ihlen and Marianne’s erstwhile husband Axel Jensen. Samson imagines it all with sultry precision in this utterly transporting, bittersweet portrait of youthful and sexual idealism.
THE MYSTERY OF HENRI PICK by David Foenkinos (Picador €14)
A REJECTED manuscript by an anonymous author becomes the toast of France in this delightful mix of romantic whimsy and literary satire, dripping in Gallic charm.
ANTHONY CUMMINS
MINOR DETAIL by Adania Shibli (Fitzcarraldo Editions €13.99)
IT ISN’T comfort reading, but this is probably my novel of the year so far. Intelligent and formally daring, it turns on an atrocity committed by Israeli troops in 1949, which a Palestinian woman tries to learn about in the present day.
Nothing dramatic happens, but Tyler’s zero-fuss artistry makes the story utterly engaging.
YOUR HOUSE WILL PAY by Steph Cha (Faber €18.20)
WRITING a page-turner about racial politics in the US is a delicate enterprise fraught with pitfalls, but Cha manages it superbly in this thought-provoking family saga, drawn on the true story of a Korean shopkeeper who avoided jail after shooting dead a black schoolgirl in 90s Los Angeles.
STEPHANIE CROSS
YOU PEOPLE by Nikita Lalwani (Viking €16)
LONDON waitress Nia wants to ‘learn how to spread light instead of darkness’, which is also the mission of her charismatic Singaporean boss who helps undocumented migrants. Lalwani explores kindness, altruism and the precariousness of interconnected lives in an economical tale that has the pace and suspense of a thriller.
WHAT’S LEFT OF ME IS YOURS by Stephanie Scott (W&N €19.60)
IN JAPAN, a ‘wakaresaseya’ is someone you hire to split up your marriage by underhand means, but Sumiko finds herself falling for the ‘breakerupper’ her husband has hired. Years later, her lawyer daughter, Rina, tries to discover why Sumiko was killed. Based on a real case, this slow-burning, intoxicatingly atmospheric mystery is a fascinating window on to Japanese society.
THE GIRL WITH THE LOUDING VOICE by Abi Dare (Sceptre €15.80)
SHORTLISTED for the Desmond Elliott Prize, this first novel follows the progress of 14-year-old Nigerian Adunni as she flees to Lagos, where she is sold as a house girl but never loses her passion for learning or her determination to speak out. Dare’s characters leap off the page, powering this funny, luminous and heart-swelling tale.
THE BASS ROCK by Evie Wyld (Jonathan Cape €19.99)
THE spectre of centuries of violence against women haunts this disturbing and intensely absorbing gothic novel, which weaves together the fate of three women across three centuries. That it can also comfortably accommodate episodes of off-the-wall, Fleabag-esque hilarity confirms the acclaimed Wyld’s brilliance.
HISTORICAL EITHNE FARRY
HOW MUCH OF THESE HILLS IS GOLD by C Pam Zhang (Virago €17.99)
SET in the dying days of the Californian gold rush, this tough, tender debut follows the fate of two young sisters who are forced to go on the run after a bungled bank raid. Peopled by unforgettable characters, Zhang has created a fierce feminist Western.
THE LOST FUTURE OF PEPPERHARROW by Natasha Pulley (Bloomsbury €18.19)
CLAIRVOYANT samurai Keita Mori and translator Thaniel Steepleton have left the fogbound streets of Victorian London for an intricately plotted adventure in rural Tokyo. Ghosts suddenly appear in the British legation, and a power-hungry baron is hiding some guilty secrets, in this inventive, wonderfully romantic read.
THE MERCIES by Kiran Millwood Hargrave (Picador €20.99)
DARK, dramatic and full of danger, this YA author’s first novel for adults retells the harrowing historical story of how an isolated community of women were accused of witchcraft in 17th-century Norway. The arrival of a Scottish witch hunter
threatens everything as their close-knit community becomes riven by suspicion and fear.
HAMNET by Maggie O’Farrell (Tinder Press €15.99)
THIS beautifully written novel opens on a summer’s day in Stratford, 1596, with Hamnet, the day-dreamy son of William Shakespeare, searching for help for his ailing twin Judith — but it’s Hamnet who dies from the plague. Shakespeare appears in the grief-stricken narrative, but Agnes, his wife, is its beating heart. DEBUTS FANNY BLAKE
BIG GIRL, SMALL TOWN by Michelle Gallen (John Murray €17.99)
MAJELLA observes the inhabitants of the small town of Aghybogey from behind the counter of the local chippy where she works. Her distinctive voice, bold and bawdy, is what sets this novel apart, making it a joyous read.
THE CODES OF LOVE by Hannah Persaud (Muswell Press €13.99)
EMILY and Ryan have an open marriage. They abide by their rules and all goes well, until Adeline comes along. Persaud dissects their relationship with a scalpel, simultaneously creating a tense and sharply observed portrait of love and obsession.
THE BOOK OF ECHOES by Rosanna Amaka (Doubleday €16.99)
NARRATED by the spirit of a Nigerian slave, she relates her own story as well as those of Michael in Brixton and Ngozi in Nigeria, both struggling to escape the echoes of the past. I was drawn into all three lives in this powerful, impassioned and thought-provoking novel that deals with racism, intergenerational trauma and redemption.
KEEPING MUM by James Gould-Brown (Trapeze €18)
I COULDN’T resist this heartwarming story of luckless Danny trying to reconnect with his young son who hasn’t spoken since his mum died in a car accident. If you want feel-good with a distinctive, funny, supporting cast, then this is the book for you.
PSYCHO THRILLERS CHRISTENA APPLEYARD
YOU ARE NOT ALONE by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen (Macmillan, €16.99)
THIS is the latest excellent offering from the classy double act that gave us the The Wife Between Us. The mystery centres around the motives of the glamorous Moore sisters who take up with a social misfit soon after she witnesses a suicide. Intelligent and disturbing.
DEAD TO HER by Sarah Pinborough (Harper-Collins €18.20)
SET in the racially charged high society of the American deep
South, this is the clash of two ambitious, beautiful trophy wives, each with her own secrets. One of them is older and one of them is black. Both are ruthless. Genuine psychological insights are Pinborough’s trademark.
THE ALIBI GIRL by C.J. Skuse (HQ €10.30)
SKUSE already has a cult following for her anarchy and comedy. Here, deeply troubled Joanne tells everyone a different story about who she is. When her lookalike is murdered, things get really wild. Great new original voice.
FINDERS KEEPERS by Sabine Durrant (Hodder €21)
TWO very different women neighbours are drawn into each other’s lives with appalling consequences. But whose reality do we trust: the shy, older lexicographer or the showy, smug young mother? Durrant is a master of disturbing, deliberate confusion.
SCI-FI & FANTASY JAMIE BUXTON
MEXICAN GOTHIC by Silvia Moreno Garcia (Jo Fletcher €21)
A GOTHIC chiller, set in 1950s Mexico, that will clamp you in its icy embrace and linger like a nightmare. Dashing socialite Noemi is sent to a misty mountain mansion and can only rescue her pretty cousin from a miserable marriage by unpeeling layers of mystery.
PROVIDENCE by Max Barry (Hodder €21.10)
THE spaceship Providence and its unpredictable crew is sent deep into the galaxy to blow up salamanders: antimatter-spitting space monsters that want to take over the universe. Like Starship Troopers with added brain, this is such a blast you can overlook just how clever and thought-provoking it is.
SOOT by Dan Vyleta (W&N €26)
A STRANGE mutation is sweeping the Victorian world. People don’t so much emote as emit: clouds of scented smoke that are brewed in newly evolved glands and reveal true feelings. Daringly conceived and brilliantly executed, this is a true epic with a high-gothic tang, imperial reach and filigree steampunk detailing.
THE UNSPOKEN NAME by A. K. Larkwood (Tor €23.99)
CHILD priest Csorwe must be sacrificed in the service of her god, so when a better offer comes along from an amoral mage, our delightful heroine jumps at it. A rip-roaring debut with an epic register of nasty gods, transdimensional gateways and a malevolent priest.