Non-fic-ish
Bright Young Women
Jessica Knoll
Although this was on the crime fiction table in the bookshop, the killer is very much in the background. Instead the lives of the victims and survivors– the bright young women of the title – are front and centre. They are forging their way in 70s America, dealing with sexism (and misogyny), racism and homophobia both internalised and systemic. The timeline jumps around, which some readers didn’t enjoy, but I thought it created poignant moments of dramatic irony. Knoll skewers our obsession with true crime and serial killers (the crimes are loosely based on those of Ted Bundy, the first ‘celebrity’ serial killer) and celebrates women who break the mould.
Doppelganger
Naomi Klein
A terrifying dissection of the increasingly influential ‘mirror-world’ spirited into being by social media. When we look into the mirror-world what do we see? Is reality reflected back? Or something more sinister, a dangerous distortion of reality that many find difficult to resist in an age of anxiety and threat?
Eve
Cat Bohannon
I’m not usually a fan of chunky non-fiction, but Bohannon’s wit and story-telling mean that this account of ‘how the female body drove 200 million years of human evolution’ is fun to read, even as your mind starts to explode.
Experimental-ish
Alphabetical Diaries
Sheila Heti
This should be unreadable but - if you’re a fan of the experimental - turns out to be a joy. Heti pasted a decades-worth of journals into a spreadsheet and sorted the sentences alphabetically. She then cut half a million words down to 60,000. The A sentences form the first chapter, B ones the second, and so on, all the way to ‘Zadie Smith’s husband…’ Somehow the brain constructs a workable narrative from the fragments we’re presented with.
Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry
Leanne Shapton
What sounds a bit gimmicky is actually incredibly effective. Shapton tells the story of Lenore and Harold’s relationship through the ‘auction catalogue’ of the items that made up their lives together. But by the end, having read only the catalogue entries you not only feel you know Harold and Lenore but are emotionally involved.
Headshot
Rita Bullwinkel
Eight teenage girl boxers trade blows in pursuit of the ‘Daughters of America Cup’. Each chapter centres around a single bout, in this intimate portrait of physicality, youth and America.
Shy
Max Porter
After reading Lanny and Grief is the Thing with Feathers, I was a fan of Porter’s poetic, surreal style. Like his other novellas, you can read this in a couple of hours – about the same length of time over which the story unfolds. Porter takes us into the head of Shy, a teenager who lives in a residential home for ‘troubled’ boys, as he tries to make sense of his inner world.
Cuddy
Benjamin Myers
Four interlinked narratives spanning over 1000 years that are based around St Cuthbert, or Cuddy, the unofficial patron saint of the North East of England. It’s a joyful, playful read, whether dealing with the Viking invasion or poverty in modern Britain, a worthy winner of the 2023 Goldsmiths Prize.
Historical fiction-ish
Wandering Souls
Cecile Pin
Three siblings flee war-torn Vietnam and unexpectedly wind-up in Thatcherite Britain. This memorable novel chronicles how they try to piece together their broken lives.
A Favourite of the Gods
Sybille Bedford
I hadn’t heard of this writer before, so it was a revelation to read such a beautifully stylish and well-crafted novel about three generations of women in a period of political upheaval in Europe in the early to mid twentieth-century.
The Women of Troy
Pat Barker
I couldn’t put The Silence of the Girls down, so I had high hopes for The Women of Troy. It’s a slower read than its predecessor, resuming after the death of Achilles. Troy has been conquered and the victors are awaiting the gods’ blessing before setting sail home with their spoils of war. Though slower, it’s incredibly poignant and the brilliant characterisation, as ever with Barker, keeps you reading.
The Island of Sea Women
Lisa See
A captivating piece of historical fiction set on the South Korean Island of Jeju, spanning the Japanese colonialism of the 1930s and 40s to the present day. The story follows two best friends, Young-Sook and Mi-ja, traditional haenyeo divers. Faced with huge struggle and tragedy, this is a book about the power and pain of friendship. I loved learning about the haenyeo – traditional women divers who deep sea dive without equipment while the men sit around all day under trees looking after the babies. I found myself on a research hunt after finishing the book, always a sign you have ignited a new interest.
Irish-ish
Old God’s Time
Sebastian Barry
I read Days Without End a few years ago and absolutely loved Barry’s prose. Old God’s Time tells the story of ex-policeman, Tom Kettle, whose quiet retirement in Ireland is interrupted by officers who want to open up an historic investigation into child abuse in the Catholic church. While the concept could make the story feel too (tragically) familiar, Barry’s choice to have the past (mis)remembered by an aging Kettle means his story unfolds in a non-linear, patchwork way that makes this a really compelling read.
The Bee Sting
Paul Murray
This Booker-shortlisted novel is an absorbing family saga told from the perspectives of the different members on an Irish family as their material fortune (and social standing) slip in the wake of the economic crisis. Murray’s novel shows just how close our ordinary lives are to tragedy, farce and something much more surreal. (Also highly-recommended, Paul Murray’s earlier novels Skippy Dies and The Mark and the Void).
So Late in the Day
Antarctica
Claire Keegan
A collection of short stories and in So Late in the Day a single story (in an edition which is physically very satisfying to hold). The simplicity and clarity of the telling is particularly effective where the everyday lives of ordinary people push at the surreal or horror (as in the first story in Antarctica).
Evenings and Weekends
Oisín McKenna
A novel written by Irish spoken word poet and playwright Oisín McKenna, the story follows a group of Londoners in their 30s as they navigate city life over a hot weekend in 2019. With the backdrop of the unfolding news story of the whale that washed up on a Thames beach, and settings and topics that feel close and familiar to anyone in their 30s navigating economic struggle, shared housing, queer identities and family and friend dynamics this novel is hard to put down and written in a sensory language that makes it hugely compelling! A recommended summer read, certainly.
Translation-ish
Clara Reads Proust
Stéphane Carlier
I read this in French but it gets great reviews in translation too. A witty, warm, quirky novel set in a hairdressing salon, all about the power of books to change your life.
The Ice Palace
Tajei Vesaas
A spellbinding tale of friendship and learning to live in the aftermath of tragedy. Written (and translated) in a style as clear and beautiful as the ice palace at the heart of the story.
Roman Stories
Jhumpa Lahiri
Now that Lahiri writes in Italian, translating some of the work herself, her stories are stripped back to their very essence, with small incidents and single words carrying huge weight. One for short story purists!
Sci-fi-ish
A Memory Called Empire and A Desolation Called Peace
Arkady Martine
These are clever and well-plotted sci-fi novels tapping into themes of power, language, colonialism and resistance, all in the shadow of political intrigue and an existential alien threat.
The Ministry of Time
Kaliane Bradley
A fun page-turner which is also thought-provoking. Set in the near future, this sort of time-travel story explores colonialism, appropriation and power of all different sorts.
The Power
Naomi Alderman
An inventive novel which asks what the world would be like if women had nothing to fear, then gives us an answer in the form of the most compelling and thought-provoking fiction I’ve read in a while. It’s told through the eyes of five main characters, their narratives interwoven as the story brings them closer together. A dramatic twist at the end to hang on for!
Family-saga-ish
Disobedience
Naomi Alderman
Hot on the heels of finishing The Power, I started Disobedience. Much less exciting but still brilliantly drawn, it tells the story of Ronit, woman living in New York away from her Orthodox Jewish early life. Her father, an esteemed rabbi in North London, passes away at the beginning of the novel, bringing her home to a community she no longer feels at home in. The story explores her as she navigates her complex feelings about her father and her ex-girlfriend, now married to her male cousin.
The Light Years
Elizabeth Jane Howard
I returned to the first novel of the Cazalet chronicles (written in 1990) after catching the end of a Radio 4 programme about Elizabeth Jane Howard and I find these novels transport me to another time and place (this one, the summer of 1937 to be precise). Following three generations of the Cazalets – a rich family and their servants, it depicts family life and all its foibles. Charming characters, steamy affairs, birth and death set to the backdrop of England in the late 1930s – it's one to pick up if you fancy a good bit of family drama and an easy read.
An Olive Grove in Ends
Moses McKenzie
A first novel written by 23-year-old Moses McKenzie, following young, British Jamaican protagonist Sayon, finding his way on the streets of Bristol’s Stapleton Road. In places the narrative structure could be tighter but overall, the novel was a pleasure to read, particularly the evocative Jamaican-English and depictions of the city McKenzie calls home. It touches on issues of class, crime, violence and faith, with a love story at its heart. McKenzie is definitely a writer to watch!
All Fours
Miranda July
Mid-life angst this time, brought to life from July’s characteristically off-kilter perspective. I’m not sure it lives up to the hype but this is a powerful and enjoyable tale of escape and reinvention, with a central concept which manages to be both completely ridiculous and somehow believable.
Shortish, angsty-ish
Practice
Rosalind Brown
The day in the life of an undergraduate essay crisis! (and the student wrestling with Shakespeare’s sonnets, her flitting mind and the insistent demands of her body). It’s a short immersive novel quickly read which leaves you with lots to think about.
Dead Animals
Phoebe Stuckes
A tale of millennial angst (relationships, debt, dead end jobs, housing), this short novel goes somewhere much darker and more surreal – while at the same time capturing very powerfully that millennial angst (especially the precariousness of life with a low-wage job and a rented room).
Soldier Sailor
Claire Kilroy
An absolutely gripping account of the early days of motherhood – should be essential reading for everyone who is NOT a mother.
Two Hours
Alba Arikha
I seem to read (and then recommend) a lot of books like this one – quiet progressions through a person’s life. This one, centred on a key meeting in Clara, the protagonist’s adolescence, is particularly engaging – and successful at capturing the changing voice and sensibilities of its main character.
Interconnected-lives-ish
Red Birds
Mohammed Hanif
This is a post-9/11 Catch-22 – a dark satire of American military action in the Middle East (no specific country is named). The first part is told through three points of view: Major Ellie, the pilot lost (both literally and figuratively) in the desert; Momo, an entrepreneurial teenage refugee; Mutt, a dog. It’s an all-male perspective and the presentation of female characters rankled occasionally, even when their voices are heard in the second part, but it not enough to stop me enjoying the dark humour.
Greta and Valdin
Rebecca K Reilly
The first novel by the Maori writer Rebecca K Reilly is so far my favourite novel of the year – as much for the style and tone as for the story. It's a familiar story – young adults, their lives, their loves (failed loves), their relationships with their parents – but the complexities of Valdin and Greta’s family heritage, the endlessly repeated stories, the family revelations and the stories never told, add a richness to their twenty-something troubles. It's actually a joyful story.
Scaffolding
Lauren Elkin
A flat in Paris links the lives of two couples fifty years apart in a novel which has been compared to Rachel Cusk’s Transit but which I think is much more engaging and readable.
My Mother Says
Stine Pilgaard
This is a novel made up of conversations – imagined and actual – reflections, doctor’s appointments and fairly surreal interludes to tell the story of the aftermath of a break-up our first time narrator is not really willing to accept. (See our Christmas 2023 reads for Stine Pilgaard’s Land of Short Sentences which I think is even better.)
YA books
Dead Happy
Josh Silver
I loved Happy Head, the first in this series and the sequel is even better. A laugh out-loud, extremely dark thriller with plenty of unexpected twists.
When Our Worlds Collided
Danielle Jawando
I was a bit disappointed in the first few pages which seemed quite cliched – a teenage boy wondering why the ‘hottest girl in the school’ has agreed to go on a date with him. Then things suddenly take a very dark turn and from then on I was absolutely gripped. Believable characters, tough issues, heartbreaking and heart warming in equal measure. A great read. Deserved winner of both the YA Book Prize and the Jhalak YA Prize
Maybe an Artist – a graphic memoir
Liz Montague
This graphic memoir is by one of the first Black female cartoonists to be published in the New Yorker. Engaging, thought-provoking, funny and inspiring.
Where the Heart Should Be
Sarah Crossan
This YA verse novel by the doyenne of the form doesn’t disappoint. A beautiful, touching, gripping historical narrative about the Irish Potato Famine, told through the eyes of a young girl. Highly recommended.
Almond
Won-Pyung Sohn
This is a Korean YA novel, narrated by 16-year-old Yunjae, who has a rare brain condition that makes it almost impossible for him to connect to other people – or so he has always been told. We see the world through his eyes as he makes his journey from isolation to empathy, via a family tragedy and the kindness of a patient doctor.
