LATEST TITLES

HAMNET BY MAGGIE O’FARRELL, TINDER PRESS, £20

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MAGGIE O’FARRELL returns with a moving historical portrait of Hamnet, William Shakespeare’s son.

When the boy and his twin sister, Judith, fall sick, their whole fractured family is tugged into a terrible, heart-rending vigil.

O’Farrell gives Anne Hathaway, Hamnet’s mother, Shakespeare’s wife a shape and form that is both touching and provoking.

She outlines the struggles an independent woman can face in a world where men’s ambition rules, and the demands of family life restrict your freedom. It might just be O’Farrell’s best work to date.

THE BASS ROCK BY EVIE WYLD, JONATHAN CAPE, £16.99

HHHHH EVIE WYLD’S third book tracks three different perspectives from history, all linked by wild Scottish coastal location, Bass Rock.

The first is a young girl accused of being a witch in the 1700s, the second is post-Second World War where a new wife, Ruth, settles into a rambling house with her husband and adopted children, and in the present day, Viv sorts through Ruth’s possessions. The stories share vague feminist themes and a sense of dread, but the problem with three perspectives is you enjoy some more than others.

THE F*CK IT LIST BY JOHN NIVEN, WILLIAM HEINEMANN, £16.99 HHHHH

IN A glimpse into a near-future America, warped by two terms of Trump as President, Donald’s daughter Ivanka is now in her first term.

The story centres on Frank Brill, a retired local newspaper editor, who is given a terminal diagnosis. Instead of the customary bucket list of things to do before he dies, Frank compiles a ‘f*ck-it list’ and on it are the names of all the