THE BEST NEW FICTION

Our Missing Hearts Celeste Ng

Abacus €25

The author of Little Fires Everywhere returns with a stunning story of injustice and resistance in a dystopian America. Bird was nine when his poet mother vanished. Now 12, he’s grasping the nature of the society she tried to save him from. Setting out to find her, he’ll need to channel all the wisdom of her stories to succeed. Lyrical, intricate, unsparing: this novel will break your heart and fire up your courage.

Hephzibah Anderson

The Book Of Goose Yiyun Li

Fourth Estate €16.50 There are echoes of Elena Ferrante in this riveting portrait of a thwarted friendship between two teenage girls from a poverty-stricken village in rural France after the Second World War. Wherever Fabienne goes, timid Agnès follows. But their bond breaks when a book of short stories that they write together is published – on Fabienne’s sayso – under Agnès’s name only. Told from Agnès’s perspective as an adult, the novel eyes the nature of literary fame and the fallout from emotional manipulation. Anthony Cummins

The Six Who Came To Dinner Anne Youngson

Doubleday €16.50

A village cleaning lady finds a dead body in a car boot after a weekend party; a disabled widow escapes the clutches of a scheming carer; an altercation between a farmer and some dog-walkers unfolds from four different perspectives. The six short stories in this highly enjoyable collection peel away the politeness of middle England to reveal a darker psychological underbelly. Subtle and pitch-perfect.

Simon Humphreys

After The Lights Go Out John Vercher Pushkin Vertigo €21

Anyone getting a little tired of the cosy crime boom can rest assured that there’s nothing remotely heart-warming about this brilliant, bleak slice of American noir. Xavier Wallace – aka the Scarecrow – is an ageing, broken-down, mixedrace martial-arts fighter who’s asked to throw one last fight by the mob. The greater battle, though, is with his own inner demons – especially when it comes to his troubled relationship with his dying, white father. Moving, enlightening and memorable. John Williams