LITERARY FICTION
TWO HOURS by Alba Arikha (Eris Press £14.99, 220pp)
THIS episodic novel has 120 sections — representing the number of minutes in the two hours of the title — in which we follow Clara, forced to leave Paris for New York aged 16 when her father relocates.
There she fleetingly meets poetic, charismatic teenager Alexander and, after just one kiss before he leaves town, is convinced they are soulmates. The memory of him haunts her as she graduates, becomes a successful writer, marries (a gloriously ghastly man), has two children and silently spirals into a breakdown, shattered by a lifetime of papering over cracks.
Arikha inhabits Clara with such emotional authenticity — evoking the absurdity of deluded adolescent passion (we’ve all been there . . .), the crushing strain of isolated motherhood, the slow death of a marital relationship and false hopes dashed — that when she makes her final bid for freedom you’ll want to hold her hand and run.
THE MUSEUM OF FAILURES by Thrity Umrigar (Swift £9.99, 356pp)
BOMBAY-born Remy, a successful advertising executive living in Ohio and happily married to white doctor Kathy, returns to his home city hoping to adopt a baby from a pregnant, unmarried girl. While there, he visits his widowed mother Shirin, who is in hospital refusing to speak or eat.
As an only child, Remy was devoted to his warm, supportive father, while Shirin was verbally and emotionally abusive to both of them. But as he cares for her — initially out of duty only — a surprising bond develops, resulting in the revelation of a shocking secret that forces Remy to reevaluate his past, present and future.
Umrigar skilfully weaves threads of cultural identity, family values, history, memory and forgiveness into this vivid tapestry of modern Indian life and, despite its slow start and somewhat unconvincing final twist, this is a deeply moving portrait of a mother’s self-sacrifice for love.
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT SPACE by Emily Austin
(Atlantic £16.99, 320pp) NEUROTIC Enid is the only child of a single, depressive mother (her nowdead father had a new family), a lesbian serial dater and gruesome true-crime podcast obsessive (deaf in one ear), who works at the Space Agency and has a phobia of bald men.
Her anxious teenage years were spent posting embarrassing YouTube videos she now can’t take down, she frequently smells burning and fears she’s being stalked. By a bald man.
She finds stability with her best friend Vin, by recounting fascinating facts about stars and avoiding emotional intimacy.
When her half-sisters generously welcome her into their family and she tentatively starts a potentially serious relationship, Enid is forced to admit that there’s something in her past she must exorcise before she can learn to connect with other people.
She’s a hugely endearing character, vulnerable yet strong, and this witty exploration of how past trauma affects present relationships sparkles like the night sky.