Radical approach

Stuart Kelly looks forward to something different and the joy of the unexpected literary surprise.

This time last year, almost every publisher had fallen for the siren song of a Big Brexit Book of some description, which seems almost quaint now. Cautiously, publishers are not inundating us with Covid books (“too soon to tell”, as Zhou Enlai once quipped on being asked about the impact of the French Revolution). Their time will no doubt come.

But in my ponderous mood, it did bring back to me how odd 2020 was. We think of the relationship between the book and the reader as in some ways private, but the epidemic brought to the fore how nested and webbed the industry is: for me, to sit quietly rests on agents, publishers, publicists, designers, printers, distribution networks, post-persons, bookshops and at the bottom of the gloopy pond the lowly literary reviewer. That said, there has been a lot already that has piqued my interest.

January is often thought of as a fallow period in the publishing schedule. I’ve never subscribed to this, as often the books published early are the more curious and intriguing. If I were in the business of prognostication, I might well choose Éric Vuillard’s The War of the Poor .Itisvery French and I mean that as a whole-hearted compliment. It follows the life of Thomas Müntzer, a 16th century radical who managed to get on the wrong side of both Luther and the Pope.

Another one flying low under the radar is the new novel by Richard Flanagan.

The Living Sea of Waking Dreams seems