The Immortalists

By Chloe Benjamin Tinder Press, 416pp, £16.99

How would you live your life if you knew the day you were going to die? This is the problem troubling the four Gold children in Chloe Benjamin’s second novel, after a mysterious gypsy reads their fortunes in a sweltering New York apartment in 1969. Each child interprets the information differently, and the novel is broken into four separate stories focusing on each in turn. We meet Simon, a young gay man who escapes to San Francisco, Klara, a wannabe magician in Vegas, Daniel, a military doctor, and Varya, who is working on an anti-ageing study. In its scope and themes, The Immortalists brings to mind Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life, but whereas that book had flawed yet lovable characters, The Immortalists tends to focus on the flaws, and it’s hard to always root for the siblings. While Simon and Varya’s stories ring true, the actions of Klara and Daniel are frustrating. The most interesting characters are often those shunted to the edges: matriarch Gertie, football star-turned ballet dancer Robert, and precocious child Ruby.