CONTEMPORARY
THE MAN WHO DIDN’T CALL by Rosie Walsh (Mantle £12.99)
THANKS to the relentless rise of dating apps, a new language has sprung up around the search for love. ‘ Ghosting’, for example, refers to the practice of ending a relationship by suddenly ceasing communication with no explanation.
sarah is freshly divorced following a long marriage, with zero dating practice behind her, when she meets Eddie. After six perfect days together — the sort people write power ballads about — she has no reason to doubt that Eddie will keep his many promises.
But there is no phone call or reply to her first message — or, indeed, her 20th. sarah’s friends are horrified when she won’t stop contacting Eddie, insisting there must be a good reason for his silence. Wise, warm and beautifully written, with a fantastic twist.
THE SCENT OF YOU by Maggie Alderson (HarperCollins £8.99)
I’VE been a huge fan of Maggie Alderson since her 2000 debut, Pants On Fire. she is a brilliant comic writer, with an excellent ear for dialogue. Here, to the casual observer, Polly has the perfect life. Her children are at university, her mother is happy in her refined retirement home, her husband has a successful academic career and her perfume blog is taking off.
However, when her husband announces he needs time out from their marriage and disappears without trace, Polly struggles.
she never wanted to be single but, as she navigates her new existence, she confronts some unpleasant truths about her previously unquestioned relationship and begins to wonder if all this is for the best. Delicious and delightful in every way.
THE READING PARTY by Fenella Gentleman (Muswell Press £10.99)
IT’S 1976 and sarah is starting work as a fellow at an Oxford college that has previously employed only men in this role.
this is huge for women in general and for sarah, who feels she has to succeed on behalf of her gender and herself.
she is highly aware that she must not get entangled in any inappropriate love affairs.
But, when she accompanies the first mixed group of students on the annual college reading trip to Cornwall, she can’t help but find herself attracted to tyler, an American student she has mostly managed to avoid.
thrown together in the middle of nowhere, they begin an ill-advised relationship, with inevitable consequences. Gorgeously written, evocative and compelling.