THE BEST NEW FICTION
Five Hundred Miles From You Jenny Colgan Sphere £12.99
In Colgan’s third novel set in the village of Kirrinfief, another burnt-out Englishwoman finds balm on the banks of Loch Ness. But while Lissa swaps her stressful London nursing job for a three-month placement in the Highlands, former Army medic Cormac braves the city for the first time. Yet as each adjusts, they forge surprising new connections. A timely window into the world of frontline health workers, and an escapist treat for life-swap dreamers. Madeleine Feeny
Writers & Lovers Lily King Picador £14.99
At 31, Casey still hopes to make it as a writer but while friends are getting hitched, she’s bedding down in a damp garage, pulling gruelling shifts as a waitress, and sinking beneath unpaid student loans. She’s already invested six years in her first novel when bereavement and heartbreak threaten to derail her. Unflinching and ultimately buoyant in its depiction of the courage and grit required to stay creative, this is essential reading for any aspiring author. Hephzibah Anderson
Remain Silent Susie Steiner The Borough Press £14.99
The feisty female copper, juggling work and home life, is in danger of becoming a terrible crime fiction cliché. Thankfully Steiner’s wonderful DI Manon Bradshaw is a thoroughly believable character, exhausted and permanently worried. This time she’s investigating the murder of a Lithuanian farmworker in the Cambridgeshire fens. Remain Silent casts a bright light on the neglected lives of desperately exploited migrants and resentful locals alike. A twisting mystery of modern Britain. John Williams
Latitudes Of Longing Shubhangi Swarup riverrun £16.99
Oxford graduate Girija is on honeymoon with Chanda, who has been spooked by the ghost of a goat. Out of such quirky titbits, Swarup fashions an exuberantly flowing novel that starts in the Andaman Islands, then moves to Nepal via Myanmar. Botanists, drugdealers and political prisoners all play their part. The narrative curdles at times, but overall it is a promising debut, with some inventive touches and lyrical descriptions. Max Davidson