CONTEMPORARY
ONE YEAR OF UGLY by Caroline Mackenzie
(Borough Press £12.99, 378 pp) FIZZING with life, this is hilarious, poignant and so sharp and thought-provoking I kept forgetting it was a debut.
Having fled the terrifying socialist regime in Venezuela, Yola Palacios and her large, excitable family now enjoy a peaceful existence in Trinidad.
However, when foul-mouthed, opinionated Aunt Celia dies it turns out she was in huge debt to a local crime master called Ugly. Specialising in people trafficking and strip bars, Ugly forces the entire family to work for him, housing other illegal immigrants in their homes and taking on roles at Pink Pie, an underground strip club frequented by government officials.
Arrest, deportation and detention are omnipresent fears, but their humanity shouts much louder than their lack of official status. This extraordinarily excellent dark comedy uses humour as a brilliant foil for the turbulent world where the Palacios exist on the edge of society.
NO REGRETS by Tabitha Webb
(HQ £7.99, 384 pp) THIS fun summer romp stars dixie, Stella and Ana, best friends since forever, who are now approaching their 40s. each is dealing with her own individual crisis, realising that nothing stays the same but also that, however hard changes might feel when you’re making them, this is where growth and happiness come from — if you’re brave enough.
dixie has fallen in love for the first time. Ana is beginning an IVF journey with a man she doesn’t love. Stella starts a lesbian fling then discovers her husband has a gambling issue.
The three go on a trip to New York, but a nasty fight on a drunken night out causes uncomfortable home truths to spill out. You can only argue like that with people you really love, however, so it’s not long before they’re helping each other sort their lives out. I raced through it.
IF I HAD YOUR FACE by Frances Cha
(Viking £12.99, 288 pp) ANoTHer assured debut which opens a window into an entirely different world. Set in the materialistic, appearance-focused and deeply misogynistic world of contemporary Seoul, it is full of beauty salons, extreme aesthetic surgery and the ‘ salon rooms’ where rich men pay beautiful young women to treat them like the kings they are not. looks and money are everything and the emphasis on conspicuous consumption, set alongside traditional notions of social status, highlights the complex and contradictory values clashing in this Westerninfluenced Asian capital.
Cha writes beautifully about the hopes and dreams of her female protagonists as they try to navigate the oppressive strictures of the world that seems set on keeping them in their place. dark and fascinating.