THE BEST NEW FICTION

What Will Survive Of Us Howard Jacobson

Jonathan Cape €25 Jacobson’s 17th novel opens with an exclamation: ‘Kerpow!’ Such is the force with which Lily falls for Sam. He soon feels the same way, the only problem being that these 40-something valentines are both already spoken for. Can their love overpower their guilt? Jacobson harnesses humour, melancholy and some kinetic dialogue to convey essential human truths.

Hephzibah Anderson

The Book Of Days Francesca Kay

Swift Press €21.50 Set in an English manor house in the dog days of Henry VIII’s reign, this absorbing novel takes the form of the diary kept by a young woman while her dying husband pursues his dream of building a chapel to safeguard his soul. As she mourns a lost child while stirring to furtive glances from a local priest, grief and desire bubble slowly to the boil. This is historical fiction that is personal, not panoramic: intimate, hushed and spare. Anthony Cummins

Parasol Against The Axe

Helen Oyeyemi

Faber €21.50 Imagine a book whose story changes depending on where or when it’s read, or by whom. Oyeyemi’s new novel is just such a tome, and begins as a circle of women gather in Prague for a hen weekend. With her wild, stylish tale, Oyeyemi pays loving homage to the city of Milan Kundera and Franz Kafka, while also playing games in the manner of Italo Calvino. Tom Payne

Anna O Matthew Blake HarperCollins €17.50

Great things are expected for this first thriller. The set up is intriguing: young journalist Anna Ogilvy went into a catatonic sleepstate after apparently stabbing her two best friends to death. Four years later, sleep psychologist Ben Prince is convinced he knows how to wake her up. What he doesn’t know is what terrible consequences her waking will have. A fascinating debut, even if the plot twists start to strain credulity. John Williams