Unlucky lovers felled by hate
POPULAR WENDY HOLDEN A GOOD NEIGHBOURHOOD by Therese Anne Fowler (Headline £18.99, 320 pp)
ALPHA-MALE Brad and his glossy wife and daughters have just moved to a smart North Carolina suburb. But his brash new family home has meant the felling of many trees. This infuriates his neighbour, professor of forestry and ecology, Valerie, who launches a lawsuit.
A widowed woman of colour, Val is the mother of biracial Xavier. He’s a talented teenage musician with the world at his feet, but that world blows up when he falls for Juniper.
She’s Brad’s 17-year-old stepdaughter and so Brad now avenges himself on Valerie. The consequences are so awful that I found reading on a struggle. But there’s no doubting this novel’s power. It’s a tale of woe to rival Juliet and her Romeo, with To Kill A Mockingbird thrown in.
ADULTS by Emma Jane Unsworth
(Borough Press £12.99, 400 pp) WORRIED that you’re no great shakes on social media? This ironic, brittle, savagely satirical novel will make you heartily thankful you’re not.
Heroine Jenny is an Instagram addict. She puts filters on photos of croissants and spends hours composing captions. She’s obsessed with influencer Suzy Brambles, a brilliant comic creation second only to Jenny’s bullying boss Mia, editor of radical feminist online mag Foof.
The plot, in which our heroine bounces about London like an insecure, emotionally overwrought pinball, is a bit rambling. But the point is Unsworth’s merciless evisceration of the smartphone generation. Superb on sharp and witty online language, you’ll never worry about your ‘likes’ again.
HOUSE OF TRELAWNEY by Hannah Rothschild
(Bloomsbury £16.99, 368 pp) THIS rollicking tale of a Cornish landed family is set during the financial crash of 2008. Trelawney Castle is falling to pieces, despite the efforts of hard- pressed Viscountess Jane.
Leaking roofs, dry rot and empty oil tanks are made worse by her useless husband, Kitto, and their entitled children.
Sister-in-law Blaze (there are some great names), a driven City whizzkid, might have helped as they used to be friends. But now they are estranged, and she’s putting up Kitto’s love child. Awkward!
Jilly Cooper fans (and who isn’t?) will love the unashamedly upmarket settings and posh characters. A romcom to beat the winter blues: funny, sharply-observed and boho-chic glamorous.