DEBUTS SALLY MORRIS
WEAK TEETH by Lynsey May (Polygon £12.99, 272pp)
There’s a huge emotional punch packed into this deceptively light novel that follows ellis, whose boyfriend of ten years has dumped her and kicked her out of their flat.
she’s living back home with her widowed mum and sparring with Lana, her angry, tired sister, who is the mother of twins. she’s also stalking her ex’s new girlfriend, has told a huge lie about Lana and is in constant pain from an undiagnosed abscessed tooth. But the dental problems are really a metaphor for the unacknowledged grief for her recently deceased father, and the fact that her dysfunctional family doesn’t communicate.
May’s darkly funny take on vulnerability, responsibility and complicated relationships promises more to come.
THE GIRLS OF SUMMER by Katie Bishop (Bantam £14.99, 352pp)
TOLD in alternating Then and Now chapters, this disturbing novel for the MeToo generation starts promisingly with naive, shy rachel going with a friend to a Greek island, aged just 17. The heady mix of sunshine, swimming, drink, drugs and the unexpected attentions of much older, sexy Alistair lure rachel into staying on, working for Alistair and his mysterious, wealthy boss.
Years later, married to nice Tom, she reconnects with someone she knew then and the memories of that summer flood back with a truth she doesn’t want to confront.
sadly, the contemporary narrative doesn’t have the same authenticity as the past, where danger lurks in plain sight.
REASONS TO GO OUTSIDE by Esme King (Hodder £9.99, 368pp)
PEARL is almost 60, lives alone in her dead parents’ isolated house where she bakes cakes — and hasn’t been outside for 43 years.
When she asks Connor, grieving for his dead mother and reluctantly heading to university, to tackle her overgrown garden, he starts to unpick the mystery of what happened to teenage Pearl. Meanwhile, divorced, retired Nate, who’s nursing a long-held heartbreak, needs a purpose in life.
Although there’s a nasty secret to uncover, it doesn’t take a genius to work out how it will all end. But the characters are endearing and the journey for each of them is as sweet as one of Pearl’s Victoria sponges.