THE BEST NEW FICTION
Learned By Heart Emma Donoghue Picador €24
The all-girls Manor School in York is a strict establishment where ‘hilarity’ is a punishable offence, so 14-year-old Anne Lister – cocky and clever – causes a stir when she arrives in 1805. She befriends Anglo-Indian orphan Eliza Raine and their friendship develops into something more. Based on real figures – Lister is the subject of the TV series Gentleman Jack
– Donoghue’s heartfelt novel is moving and evocative. Neil Armstrong
Light Over Liskeard Louis de Bernières
Harvill Secker €28
Set in the era of the ‘multinet’, this dystopia lobs a curveball at readers who think of Louis de Bernières only as the author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. It follows Q, a cyber-attack expert whose fear of civilisational collapse leads him to flee London. Cue a knockabout satire with twists aplenty.
Anthony Cummins
The Figurine Victoria Hislop Headline €35
Hislop’s ninth novel begins in 1960s Athens, the era of the Junta. As a child, Helena spends summers there in an apartment belonging to her grandfather, a general. When she inherits the property later, she confronts questions of inheritance, nationhood, and ownership. A tightly wrought, masterful excavation of family history.
Francesca Peacock
Cahokia Jazz Francis Spufford Faber €21
It’s 1922 and in an alternate US the city of Cahokia has become a multiracial metropolis. Against this jazzy backdrop Spufford unfurls an idiosyncratic mystery. Gutsy and atmospheric, this generous slice of noir has plenty to say about the state of modern-day race relations.
Hephzibah Anderson
Mrs Sidhu’s Dead And Scone Suk Pannu HarperCollins €20
When caterer Mrs Sidhu is asked to help out at a wellness retreat she’s soon caught up in a series of murders. Red herrings and plot twists abound, but it’s the charming Mrs Sidhu who is the real attraction.
John Williams