THE BEST NEW FICTION

You Think It, I’ll Say It Curtis Sittenfeld Doubleday €23.79

Sittenfeld’s first story collection proves her short fiction is just as clear-eyed and compulsive as her novels. It touches on sexism, class, relationships and self-deception. One story follows Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail, excruciatingly certain she’s about to become president. Another charts a misread frisson between a woman and her husband’s colleague. Sittenfeld skewers what fraudsters we can be to ourselves and creates characters so vivid you half-expect to bump into them in the street. Gwen Smith

White Houses Amy Bloom Granta €18.20

This historical novel recreates the romance of journalist Lorena Hickok and Eleanor Roosevelt during the years 1933-1945. Hickok narrates, describing her poor South Dakota farming family, an abusive father, being turned out in her early teens, and travelling with a circus. Her reporting opens access to the First Lady, which leads to intimacy. Males – the rapist daddy, the lupine FDR, the invented gay cousin – aren’t shown to advantage, while the two middle-aged women (‘loved, saucy, delighted’) enjoy a complex, sensual affair. A beguiling stylist, an intriguing tale. Jeffrey Burke

Mrs Fletcher Tom Perrotta Corsair €18.20

The protagonist of this misleadingly gentle novel is cloaked in a melancholy reminiscent of Anne Tyler’s characters. Except that no Tyler heroine has yet become addicted to porn. That’s what happens to Eve, a divorced empty-nester and director of the local senior centre. Meanwhile, a colleague is struggling to square her politics with her desires, and Eve’s son is set to learn the hard way about respecting women. It all adds up to a wry, spiky examination of how the internet is reshaping sexuality. Hephzibah Anderson