THE BEST NEW FICTION

Learned By Heart Emma Donoghue Picador €24

The all-girls Manor School in York is a strict establishment where ‘hilarity’ is a punishable offence, so 14-year-old Anne Lister – cocky and clever – causes a stir when she arrives in 1805. She befriends Anglo-Indian orphan Eliza Raine and their friendship develops into something more. Based on real figures – Lister is the subject of the TV series Gentleman Jack

– Donoghue’s heartfelt novel is moving and evocative. Neil Armstrong

Light Over Liskeard Louis de Bernières

Harvill Secker €28

Set in the era of the ‘multinet’, this dystopia lobs a curveball at readers who think of Louis de Bernières only as the author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. It follows Q, a cyber-attack expert whose fear of civilisational collapse leads him to flee London. Cue a knockabout satire with twists aplenty.

Anthony Cummins

The Figurine Victoria Hislop Headline €35

Hislop’s ninth novel begins in 1960s Athens, the era of the Junta. As a child, Helena spends summers there in an apartment belonging to her grandfather, a general. When she inherits the property later, she confronts questions of inheritance, nationhood, and ownership. A tightly wrought, masterful excavation of family history.

Francesca Peacock

Cahokia Jazz Francis Spufford Faber €21

It’s 1922 and in an alternate US the city of Cahokia has become a multiracial metropolis. Against this jazzy backdrop Spufford unfurls an idiosyncratic mystery. Gutsy and atmospheric, this generous slice of noir has plenty to say about the state of modern-day race relations.

Hephzibah Anderson

Mrs Sidhu’s Dead And Scone Suk Pannu HarperCollins €20

When caterer Mrs Sidhu is asked to help out at a wellness retreat she’s soon caught up in a series of murders. Red herrings and plot twists abound, but it’s the charming Mrs Sidhu who is the real attraction.

John Williams