LATEST TITLES

THE STANDING CHANDELIER by Lionel Shriver, Borough Press, £9.99 (ebook 99p)

PROBABLY best known for the hit sensation We Need To Talk About Kevin, Lionel Shriver has a reputation for tackling tough subjects.

Weston and his best friend Jillian have, over 25 years, developed a familiarity that revolves around regular tennis. But when he proposes to Paige, it transpires she cannot stand his best friend and will only marry if he ditches Jillian.

Of course, Jillian senses the tension and tries to help with an extravagant and intensely personal wedding gift. Will Weston give her up? Is she just a ‘friend’?

Fantastically observed and deeply absorbing, the trajectory of the relationships is also profoundly realistic. There is a sickening sense of foreboding as we fathom what Jillian will give her friend and it’s horribly obvious what impact it will have – yet it’s not quite that simple. You’ll think about it well after the last page.

WINTER by Karl Ove Knausgaard, Harvill Secker, £16.99 (ebook £7.99)

NORWEGIAN writer Karl Ove Knausgaard found fame with his autobiographical My Struggle series. In the Seasons Quartet, he again tackles issues relating to his own life, this time in the guise of brief descriptions of the world written for his unborn daughter. In Winter, the second book in the collection, we find Knausgaard ruminating on the wintry weather, the trials of fatherhood and his childhood in the Seventies.

Sometimes Knausgaard is bragging about how much he knows, other times he veers to the surreal. The best moments in the book find him simply detailing small incidents in his life.

The entries are up and down, enjoyable and annoying, enlightening and occasionally a little dull – but this has always been what Knausgaard excels at, capturing the wonders and banalities of life.