THE BEST NEW FICTION

The Hypocrite

Jo Hamya

W&N €22

‘Hypocrite’ is Greek for actor, and Hamya’s novel exposes the masks we put on when looking at our pasts, our relationships and ourselves. She depicts a novelist – an older man, prone to moaning about sex and culture wars – watching his daughter’s play, a painful experience as its subject is a holiday they once took together. That sounds tricksy, but the plot moves with a smooth economy, brilliantly satirising all kinds of pretension while offering psychological insights.

Tom Payne

The Amendments

Niamh Mulvey

Picador €24

Elegant prose and an earnest engagement with emotional integrity are the hallmarks of this engrossing coming-of-age tale. On the verge of motherhood in London, Nell is haunted by a traumatic secret from her teenage past, drawing the narrative back to 1980s Ireland, a ‘buttoned-up, beleaguered little country’. The novel brims with drama and dilemmas as Nell and her mother together tackle thorny issues of faith, freedom and feminism in a cloistered society.

Eithne Farry

The Morningside

Téa Obreht

W&N €29

Obreht’s third novel takes its title from a luxury high-rise, now crumbling as it rears above a Manhattan-like metropolis that’s half underwater. The building is home to Silvia, 11, a climate refugee whose mother is tight-lipped about their past. Magic realism and dystopian sci-fi infuse a powerfully imagined tale of exile, belonging and, ultimately, hope.

Hephzibah Anderson

Back From the Dead

Heidi Amsinck Muswell

Press €15

Crime reporter Jensen returns in the latest instalment of this enjoyable Copenhagen-set series. First a headless body shows up, floating in the harbour, then an unrelated head. The lead investigator is Jensen’s ex Henrik. The complex plot moves from penthouse to pavement but the real drama comes from Jensen herself. Can she find happiness with new lover Kristoffer, or is she still too enmeshed with unhappily married Henrik?