CONTEMPORARY
THE HIGH MOMENTS by Sara-Ella Ozbek (S&S £8.99, 368 pp)
SCARLETT is desperate to leave the small town where she grew up to move to London, have an exciting career in fashion and enjoy the sort of high-octane social life she envies on Instagram. after a row with her mother she moves to the city and sofa surfs until she lands a junior job at a model agency. Desperate to impress, scarlett starts partying hard, not recognising the neon flashing warning signs urging her to focus on her career.
she’s drinking, taking drugs and sleeping with someone else’s boyfriend but she’s getting heaps of new followers online.
The more highs scarlett seeks out, the more lows she experiences as a result.
I loved this sharp, beautifully written debut about finding out what really makes you happy. a fast-paced lesson in being careful what you wish for.
LONGHAND by Andy Hamilton (unbound £16.99, 300 pp)
YOU’LL recognise the author from his appearances on Have I Got news For You and as the co-creator of comedy TV programmes Drop The Dead Donkey and Outnumbered.
He’s also made publishing history here by releasing this novel in a printed facsimile of his longhand — saying it’s a love letter to the dying art of handwriting. It’s also an actual love letter, written from protagonist Malcolm to Bessie, his girlfriend of 20 years, who is unconscious in hospital.
Malcolm is reluctantly preparing to leave Bessie and the reasons behind her illness and his imminent exit from their relationship become clear as his life story unfolds.
The handwritten font did feel hard on my eyeballs at the start but felt entirely natural
PIZZA GIRL by Jean Kyoung Frazier (HQ £12.99, 208 pp)
THIS thought- provoking debut is a coming-of-age story about a pregnant 18-year-old pizza delivery girl, obsessed with a female customer. This crush soon becomes her strategy for avoiding thinking about what’s going on in her own life. Pizza girl — we only find out her name in the epilogue — has no idea how to deal with anything happening to her.
she is grieving over the death of her alcoholic father, avoiding her supportive mother and boyfriend, in denial about how much love surrounds her and refusing to take responsibility for her forthcoming baby or her future. Her voice is so compelling I couldn’t help but root for her even when she was driving me mad with her moods, broods and bad decisions. I loved it.