DEBUT FICTION
ONE OF THE BOYS by Daniel Magariel
(Granta £12.99) A FATHER drives his two sons from Atlanta to suburban Albuquerque to start a new life. The initial excitement of adventure, of running out on their mother, of returning to a life the way it was before ‘the War’ (divorce), rapidly becomes the stuff of nightmares.
Without work, the father retreats into a state of drug-induced paranoia, keeps his sons from school, abuses them emotionally and physically, then leaves them to fend for themselves as they hatch a plan for escape.
Told by the 12-year-old son in prose that’s spare and concise, this is a heartbreaking but compelling portrait of a childhood twisted by a controlling parent, as well as the unbreakable bond between brothers.
MISS BOSTON AND MISS HARGREAVES by Rachel Malik
(Fig Tree £14.99) THOUGH inspired by her own grandmother’s story, malik is at pains to point out her novel ‘is a fiction and not a speculation’.
so, in 1940, land girl rene Hargreaves is posted to starlight f arm where elsie boston is managing alone.
Wary of each other at first, a friendship between the two women is forged as they gain one another’s trust.
When forced to leave the farm, they move on together as itinerant farmworkers. Their simple, contented existence is overthrown when an old promise made in rene’s previous life has devastating consequences.
Part period piece, part courtroom drama, this is also a touching love story.
THE CLOCKS IN THIS HOUSE ALL TELL DIFFERENT TIMES by Xan Brooks
(Salt £8.99) THE Great War and the ensuing flu epidemic left people bereaved or maimed, families split and businesses in trouble.
Thus, the Twenties didn’t roar much at their beginning , except in grief, and journalist Xan brooks’s novel is spun from these sorry outcomes.
orphaned teenager Lucy marsh is drawn into a vice ring operating under the cover of a charity for wounded ex-servicemen.
matters apparently improve as Lucy comes into the orbit of a decadent cocaine-snorting earl, but soon enough they spiral further downwards into catastrophe.
This will be familiar to fans of Decline And fall. but what evelyn W augh treated satirically isn’t so funny any more, and this well-written novel is more tender and sad than bitingly hilarious.