Our pick of new books
Four new releases that have people talking
CIRCE
The author won awards for her 2011 book, Song of Achilles, based on Homer’s epic poem The Iliad, and she’s now taken on Homer’s The Odyssey. In the new book she tells the story from the point of view of one of the poem’s characters, Circe, a goddess and witch.
She gives Circe a fully developed background, describing her growing up in the court of her father, Helios, the sun god, and explaining how she comes to be exiled to the island of Aeaea where she turns men into pigs. This is where she encounters Odysseus, the focus of Homer’s poem, but the Greek hero arrives only halfway through the book as this is Circe’s story.
Miller, a classics expert, explores stories mentioned in the poem and creates a lush, vibrant tale of love, danger and survival. I found myself googling to find out more about the characters.
Circe is a wonderful read and anyone with even the slightest interest in Greek mythology will be enthralled.
THE TEMPTATION TO BE HAPPY
Cesare Annunziata is 77 years old and he’s not ready to stop living. He’s quite happy to avoid his kids – he thinks his daughter hates him and his son is hiding something crucial from him – and live life according to his own rules, even if it annoys everyone else.
He avoids the cat lady in the block where he lives, urges his 80-something pal not to just die a slow death in his apartment and regularly seeks the affection of a woman named Rossana (although their relationship is anything but conventional).
His life is changed when new neighbours move into his block. It’s a young couple and he soon realises their relationship is unhealthy. Despite his better judgment the widower gets involved and it changes his life in ways he couldn’t imagine.
This book was surprising, delightful and quite sad. Originally released in Italian last year, it’s become a bestseller around the world.
HELLBENT (ORPHAN X #3)
Evan Smoak was taken from an orphanage at the age of 12 then raised and trained by Jack Johns to be a lethal government assassin, Orphan X. But after becoming disillusioned with the Orphan programme Evan disappeared, reinventing himself as the Nowhere Man who lives alone and has dedicated himself to helping those who are truly desperate.
This time when he gets a call, it’s from Jack, just moments before he’s murdered by Charles Van Sciver who’s hellbent on killing all remaining members of the Orphan programme.
Evan lives and operates in a supremely hi-tech world. His life is precise, obsessively neat and organised. Into this environment comes Joey, Jack’s last protégé and recruit for the programme. Caring for and protecting this 16-year-old girl causes big upheaval in Evan’s life.
This is the third in Hurwitz’s Orphan X series but you needn’t have read the other two (Orphan X and The Nowhere Man) to figure out what’s going on. If you enjoyed the Jason Bourne and Mission Impossible movies, you’ll love Hellbent.
THE LOVE DIARY OF A ZULU BOY
In this memoir, columnist, journalism graduate and self-proclaimed Zulu cultural delinquent Bhekisisa Mncube uses his own experience as a springboard to explore interracial relationships in South Africa.
When I started reading the book I was initially captivated but by the time I was halfway through I was disappointed and gobsmacked.
It wasn’t only Mncube’s dream of “becoming a white man” that disturbed me but also his habit of speaking about his partner as his “English” or “white” wife even though he argues that people shouldn’t be classified by race.
Throughout the book Mncube seems proud of the fact that he’s married a white woman and moved away from the “black struggle or experience” – I found this extremely uncomfortable to read.
The book also explores toxic masculinity as the author details his past disastrous relationships, with mainly black women. Instead of being – as described – an erotic, romantic and steamy read, it quickly turns into a tale of unhealthy relationships.