4 BOOKS TO READ...
Red Clocks by Leni Zumas
Women leading lives of quiet, and not-so-quiet, desperation are at the heart of Leni Zumas’s dystopian novel Red Clocks. Reminiscent of the nightmarish world of Gilead in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, the book is set in a United States in which abortion is banned and IVF has been made illegal. Four women from a small Oregon town try to make sense of these new rules and the effects they have on their lives: One sets out on a dangerous journey in the hope of making it across the Canadian border, where abortions are still available, while another longs to have a baby but can’t. And in between, we follow a fifth woman - a 19th-century Arctic explorer from the Faroe Islands – who has her own battles to fight. Together, the five stories form a deeply touching exploration of women’s lives past and future. Despite the grim subject matter, leaves you with hope. The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
In her second novel,
Chloe Benjamin weaves an ambitious family saga that spans several decades. The premise is intriguing: How would you live your life if you knew the day you were going to die? This is the problem troubling the four Gold children, after a mysterious gypsy reads their fortunes in a sweltering New York apartment in 1969. The novel is broken into four short stories focusing on each in turn. However, The Immortalists tends to focus on flaws, and it’s hard to always root for the siblings. The most interesting characters are often those shunted to the edges: matriarch Gertie, football star-turned ballet dancer Robert, and precocious child Ruby. Although you’re supposed to take away a lesson on how to live fully, it’s hard not to finish the book hoping you’re never given advance warning of your death. Sal by Mick Kitson
The eponymous teenage heroine of Mick Kitson’s debut novel, who is on the run from the drab, chaotic lives of her alcoholic mother and her “Maw’s” drug-dealing partner, steps into another world in Scotland’s last wilderness. Kitson’s ability to combine the mundane and harrowing with an uplifting, giddy traipse through the great outdoors, with characters who take you with them, belies the fact this is his first venture into fiction. Armed with her Bear Grylls knife,
Youtube education on the wild, and the SAS Survival Guide, Sal desperately tries to come up with a blueprint for her family’s survival. An inventive, memorable and soul-stirring read. Children Of Blood And Bone immerses you in a fantasy world of magic and myth, where good and evil battle it out. Inspired by the legends of west Africa, this trilogy opener from Tomi Adeyemi amazes and terrifies in equal measure. Set in the fictional kingdom of Orisha, it sees teenager Zelie embark on a quest to bring magic back to her land after the genocide of her people by King Saran. It is aimed at the young adult market and younger readers would find some of the scenes shocking. While it is brutal in parts, it is also a beautiful and touching story and a punchy debut from Adeyemi. Bring on part two.