A NEW LEAF
JENNIFER McSHANE looks at the tomes that should be on our must-read lists for 2020.
Jennifer McShane has your reading list for 2020
THE ALL-NIGHTER READ
Before I even read a whole chapter of Jeanine Cummins’ American Dirt (Tinder Press, approx €16.99, out January 28), I knew it was something special. It chronicles the life of an Acapulco-based bookseller and her family, who are forced to flee when her husband’s fearless journalism and coverage of the local cartel,
Los Jardineros, lands them on the wrong side of the violent gang. They can’t simply flee; Lydia and her young son must illegally cross the US-Mexico border after a violent massacre which leaves 16 dead, including her husband. She knows, however, that they were not meant to be left alive, so their journey, bound by love for each other, is also one of terror. They are now migrants and must ride atop La Bestia – a lethally dangerous freight train going towards the United States, the only place the cartel’s reach doesn’t extend. An utterly compelling, beautiful tome, made for our times.
THE COMFY COUCH READ
In A Good Neighbourhood by Therese Anne Fowler (Headline, approx €18.99, out February 4), when the Whitmans, a rich white family, move into a sprawling, newly-built house next door to Valerie Alston-Holt, a black professor of forestry and ecology, and her musically gifted, biracial 18-yearold son, Xavier, in a modest, diverse home in North Carolina, we know from the outset, they will clash. Things get off to a rocky start when the house the Whitmans built compromises an oak tree on Valerie’s property. She sues them for damage to the tree, citing genuine concern for the ecosystem, but Brad Whitman responds using racial remarks. He sees an opportunity for revenge after catching Xavier and his stepdaughter Juniper (who has taken a purity vow) together and spins the truth to bring charges against Xavier. A page-turning, thoughtful exploration of prejudice.
THE DAYTIME READ
In Steph Cha’s Your House Will Pay (Faber & Faber, approx €14.99, out January 16), it’s 2019 in Los Angeles, and in the heat of the summer, racial tensions are high. A police shooting involving a black teenager named Alfonso Curiel has inflamed what was already simmering anger, and protests have erupted throughout the city. Shawn Matthews, a black ex-convict, is haunted by memories of his sister Ava, who was shot to death by a Korean woman who mistakenly believed she was stealing from her. The woman was convicted and received no jail time. Back in the present day, the shooting and death of an unarmed black teen by a police officer is the talk of the city. Elsewhere, Grace Park, a young Korean woman, is shaken when she witnesses her mother being wounded in a drive-by shooting. The two families are bound together by racism, violence and social injustice. Powerful and gripping.
THE BEDSIDE READ
Pine by Francine Toon (Doubleday Ireland, approx €14.99, out January 23), set in the Scottish Highlands, tells of Lauren and her father Niall, who live alone in a small village surrounded by forest. It’s a close-knit community; everyone knows everyone else, and when Lauren’s mother Christine disappears, everyone points the finger at Niall, a heavy drinker prone to angry tempers. When a woman stumbles out and onto the road one Halloween night, Niall drives her back to their house. Lauren, who doesn’t remember her mother, is branded the daughter of a “witch” in school. At the same time, the disappearance of teenager Ann-Marie suddenly unearths memories of the mystery never forgotten – the whole town fears the worst. A remarkable debut.