I listened to the audiobook, and you might like to also, to get an authentic Indian voice telling an epic story which spans from 1955 to 1990. The deep themes of childhood innocence, impossible relationships across the class divide, Communist idealism and violence, and the beauty of the landscape of Telangana will definitely hold you. But these are transcended by the characters - whom you will love.
Fluidly ranging across the times and spaces of northern Scandinavia, this majestic, elegiac prose-poem will leave you haunted by its natural beauty and generational trauma. This is an epic of loss - of indigenous language, land, loved ones - caused by Swedish industrial expansion northward. A polyphonic array of voices from two Sami families, across the span of a century, will lodge their fragments of landscape and poetry deep within you.
Sir Kay and his fellow knights awake from their mythical slumber whenever Britain has need of them; they fought at Agincourt and at the Somme. This time they are fighting climate change and a dragon. This enteraining read is a bit of a one-off - think Monty Python and the Holy Grail meets the eco-warriors in this mash-up of Arthurian legend and contemporary fantasy.
An unsettling near-future exploration of the climate crisis and a clash of ambition and principle. The grief and guilt of unsympathetic, ice-cold characters is palpable and their choices stand as a harsh ecological and societal warning. This is a light-touch eco-tale written in beautifully descriptive prose, yet still unflinching and thought-provoking.
A brutally honest rollercoaster of a read. Relationship tensions, fuelled by peri-menopausal symptoms and a troubled past, initiate the road trip meant to bring emotional calm to a troubled woman in this uncompromising and sexually explicit book. A dry, witty and sometimes slightly comic curiosity drives the pace as she veers off track and into the unchartered waters of self-discovery. This is a bold search for self and sexual fulfillment.
Set in a working-class district of Madrid, this is a bruised and raw tale of Alex, a young trans woman navigating her identity, and the community who both damage and save her. Although harrowingly violent in places, there are many moments of breath-taking tenderness. Wryly funny, with astonishing depths of humanity and a neighbourhood of vividly drawn characters, this read is both a hugely entertaining and deeply authentic emotional experience.
As philosophy lecturer Sara faces a possible death sentence in modern Kuwait, she takes strength from the generations of courageous women who came before her. This is such a powerful story with memorable characters which made this book totally gripping. I loved it and lived through Sara's tension right to the end.
Set in an unnamed city at the moment where AI has become the main support structure for society, this near-future vision feels all-too relatable. We see this world through the eyes of May, the mother of a young family unit struggling to make ends meet, and her efforts to create the best life for her children. A study of parental pressure and anxiety in the face of continually intrusive technology, this is a chilling, darkly humorous read.
This meditation on the collective traumatic memory of Pinochet's dictatorship is told through the narration of a documentary maker, and their imagined dialogue with The Man Who Tortured People - a member of the secret police. The threat of state violence runs throughout, as acts of torture merge into the everyday. This stark read blends fact with poetry to push into disturbing psychological spaces that museums and archives cannot reach.
The life of a prima ballerina is no fairy tale. Natalia works hard on her come-back after a two year break following a severe accident. Not only has she had to come to terms with that, but also with the fact that her loving partner betrays her with a competitor, devious Dmitri. Love, jealousy and pain are all in the game for these artists. A book for true ballet aficionados - and those curious to learn more about this world.
I really enjoyed these subtle horror stories. They’re not ‘in your face’ but let you slowly in on the terrible fate of ordinary people. A shipwrecked man who is a survivor and visits a mother of a drowned son who asks difficult questions, a Japanese woman who gives origami classes in a woman’s prison and siblings living near a Métis reservation in Canada. The beautiful language is a breath of fresh air despite the uncomfortable subject matter.
A thrilling, sometimes disturbing tale and an unusual take on a murder story. Three black gay Americans arrive in their ancestral home of Ghana for the 'Year of Return' celebrations, facing hostility on two fronts: for being gay and from native Ghanaians resenting outsiders taking over their homeland. Narrated in turns by their two guides, one gay and the other homophobic, their relationship is one of the most intriguing aspects of the book.
What I heard in this very moving book is that abused children will never forget those experiences, however hard they try. Told in a symbolic and magical way, we journey with Dominque from the Angel Falls’ Lost World through her early years in the centre of Paris and the demise of her parents. Despite the underlying pain and violence, more suggested than factual, this book is a very special and enriching reading experience.
Patch Macaulay saves a girl only to be abducted and imprisoned himself. When he eventually escapes he is determined to find Grace, the girl who shared the darkness with him and made his captivity bearable. This is an epic love story - and a murder mystery - spanning several decades. A big book but a real page-turner.
Set on an imaginary Caribbean island, this almost-detective story spins into a vibrant protest against femicide and domestic abuse. Like a call to arms, caught up in the women’s passionate anger and fragile hope, I was ready to join them! Somehow, the men avoid becoming the villains, instead portrayed with empathy, and the book resonates with the many systemic issues at play: colonialism and slavery, violence and poverty, race and gender.
This raw and intense novel is a surreal, visceral and exhilarating read. It explores identity, sex and rebellion in an unconventional and experimental style that includes text, drawings, letters, poetry and dream visions. Fans of punk culture and feminist literature will love this book but expect your boundaries to be pushed to the limit!
Everyone on the platform is on their way to nights out. Maggie feels glum. It's as if the people of London have converged on the city's parks, beer gardens, and street corners to revel in the great collective joys of being alive, everyone but you, they seem to say, you loner, squanderer, you who stares longingly at the laughing groups of youths in London Fields.
This, she thinks, is the crux of it. The crux of it is that she wants to go to a party.
A witty English version of noir will take you down the recognisable streets of London and Brighton. It’s surprisingly warm and builds the tension as you’ll start to care for the world-weary protagonist’s survival. Full of unexpected observations of people and what they wear, or drive, or eat, it’s a rich and funny read. It was over before I was ready so I turned back and savoured it more slowly second time through.
This book made a strong impression on me. As I see it, this story is an homage to people who, in times of destruction and violence, strive to keep their humanity and tolerance of those around them. This is the lot of the nameless man who tells his life’s story in this dystopian tale. We walk beside him as he tries to survive the heat and the greed of others - the ones who were responsible for the terrible situation the earth is in.
You’d think six people on a space station would be a novel of claustrophobia and tension but this is quite unexpectedly different. The focus goes in and out from the personal to the universal in a way that you don’t notice the difference. I found it miraculous that something so short could deliver such a mind-opening and ultimately calming experience. A rare treat.
A symphony in three parts: understated, very passionate and held-back prose. I witnessed restraint, tension, non-communication, loneliness, sexuality, the search for identity, recognition, remorse, and more. The story captures a time in which the aftermath of WWII is still very present. A very cleverly written tale which made me realise how ignorance and reticence can distort reality and, sadly, destroy trust.
I’m not sure three guys would be allowed to look after a two-year old like this but forget the realism and enjoy the acute perceptions of relationships – friendships, fathers and sons – which are totally believable. There’s so much empathy here, and for such different stages of life, it becomes a deeply emotional read.
This is a brutal and beautiful read so give it time as it’s quite short and quickly over. It’s a mix of teenage boredom and frustration in a small town that everyone will recognise and quite extraordinary lyricism about nature and how humans can connect to the landscape. You will never look at images of the Northern Lights in the same way again.
This mesmerising novel explores life, love, regret, and second chances and follows one man who keeps replaying his life from age 18. At times uplifting then harrowing, funny then heartfelt, this rollercoaster of a novel is a must-read for fans of speculative fiction and anyone who wants a thought-provoking and philosophical take on consequences and morality.
This is like no other book I've ever read, and also like every other I've read. The setting is so alien and remote but for all their differences I learned that people are just the same the world over. The characters are so well drawn - I loved them all - but the saddest part was coming to the last page and the final twist. An unforgettable read.
A sort of reverse Black Lives Matter novel - which gave me pause for thought. A socially-minded black family moves to a very wealthy, all-black, isolated community in California. The woman has her reservations and soon she receives signals that something is very wrong with the residents. This book has such a creepy vibe - I stayed up late to read the bitter ending.
The fates of Dikembe, a child taken to England from his family in the Congo in 1906, and Lowra, an orphan mistreated by her stepmother in 1974, are connected by a necklace, some strange writing on an attic wall and a doll. Racism and the mistreatment of children are of all times and can be a depressing read - but this haunting and emotional novel gave hope in the end.
'An apple a day keeps the doctor away' doesn’t apply to this book. This gothic horror novel begins quite innocently when Dan, an apple farmer from Pennsylvania, miraculously regains the rights to his father's apple orchard. Its seven trees produce blood-red, delicious apples - and anyone who eats them is miraculously transformed. Needless to say things go from worse to grim. A delicious, fat page-turner, but I’m off apples for some time.
These short stories, although published separately, form a background continuum of So’s extraordinary and tragically short life. All the emotional turmoil and identity crisis of growing up with Cambodian refugee inheritance is here, along with all the perils of gay experiences in Silicon Valley society, forming a lighthearted, tragicomic shooting star of a read.
Although very loosely based on historical events, this is by no means a typical historical novel. It feels dreamlike, otherworldly - and I felt a rising sense of panic, made worse by the unreliable narrator, Elodie. It's difficult to understand what actually happens and what Elodie has imagined, but still I found myself caught up in her life, her thwarted passions and her web of secrets.
Told through the irreverent eyes and potty-mouthed words of young narrator Tibb, a vagabond orphan, this is a pacily entertaining and richly moving slice of Tudor life, muddy with the grime of poverty. You'll love your time with Tibb, as she lives off her wits to survive and thrive, building her ragtag band of outcasts, attempting to evade the judgements of a brutally orthodox and punitive Church. Sweary, funny and with a massive heart.
Set in contemporary suburban America, this retelling of Beowulf holds a cracked and questioning mirror up to the original, shifting its focus to a study of motherhood, otherness, PTSD and what makes us monsters. A knowledge of the Old English original isn't necessary to be immersed in this propulsively engaging read, but may add additional layers of meaning. Rampaging with bloodlust fury and maternal protection, this read is as tender as a blade.
This heartwarming story follows Takako as she overcomes a break up and learns more about love and life while helping run her uncle's store. All book lovers will recognise the vivid descriptions of finding sanctuary in a book store while falling for the quirky characters that inhabit it. A lovely warm hug of a novel!
A saga of three generations of Black lives in the South, with the classic drivers of racial hatred and violence, rights campaigns and female survival through inner strength. The flashback format will require you to master the chronology, and some of the cultural references may challenge British readers, but it’s so worth it. Just imagine Oprah, Halle and Latifah starring in the film …
This collection of stories is a ghastly, beautiful tour through a series of apocalypses. However the world ends; with flowers falling from the sky, with families turning to gingerbread or with bands of survivors patrolling safe zones, these are stories of queer female relationships, sex, bodies, intimacy and motherhood. This collection will elicit tears, laughter, shock, hope and despair. Monstrous, beautiful and consuming.
This novel is an original take on Frankenstein with two sympathetic queer guys who create their own daughter. A living plant and lots of mystery - what’s not to like? The twists and turns are surprising and I certainly enjoyed the lightly macabre storytelling.
The ethnic clashes of 1980s Sri Lanka are violent and totally divisive. Medical student Sashi's family loyalties are challenged in a heartbreaking way as she loses two brothers and a dear friend. I felt shock but also a deep empathy with these characters whose suffering is unimaginable. This is terrific writing and powerful storytelling.
Restlessly inventive, these short-stories offer glimpses into imagined futures: often dystopian, always influenced by now, with the pandemic a feverish influence, and the brutality of industrialisation a constant dread. This is a read that will shock and delight you in its agility, placing you in the perspective of narrators - both human and non-human - that you may never have experienced before. Breathtakingly innovative, identifiably humane.
Nat is a single, vulnerable woman for whom life has clearly been unkind - full of if-onlys. These continue into her new life with a tragic inevitably, culminating in a fall from grace in her relationship with the Faust-like Andreas. You’ll meditate on all the motives and consequences of her too-quick and too-long-delayed decisions, and feel her depth of feeling in heart and soul as everyone and everything conspires against her.
A nameless young narrator seems to be on a quest to strip everything back to the elements and expose herself to nature in all its raw extremity. The first person narrative takes you deep into her psyche, but without the relief of understanding her motives - beyond the need to live life on the edge. At the end, I was keenly affected by the power and darkness of this tiny book - even though it left me comfortless. A curiously compelling experience.
There are all sorts of elements in these three stories which appeal to me: e.g. absurdism, imagination, humour, deviousness. All three main characters have something that makes them an outcast, sometimes hit hard by their reality, but with unexpected twists that usually make you either smile or wonder which trick has been played on you.
This eerie and intriguing novel keeps you turning pages with its twists and revelations while deeply immersing you in its beautifully written and atmospheric world. It will especially appeal to fans of gothic horror, fantasy and science fiction, and anyone who enjoys dark but thoughtful explorations of humanity and survival.
Be drawn in by the dilapidated charm and nostalgia of The Paradise cinema, just like Holly who, desperate to fit in, becomes part of the chaotic group of misfits who work there. Drug use, lust and fear cloud the hallucinatory gory episodes that haunt her as both the cinema and relationships crumble. Strange, gothic and surreal yet with a sting of harsh reality, this book threaded with film references is a cinematic and visual read.
Sensory and fluid, this poetic read is brief but as deep as the waters that run through it. What begins as a group fishing trip soon expands into tributaries where the past and present flow alongside each other, one haunting the other. You'll be immersed in the evocation of rural Argentinian life - the smoke of barbecued chorizo will sting your eyes, the thick web of woodland spiders will cling to your skin, dreamlike in the haze of heat.
Aron and Nora travel on the number 13 bus across London during the rush hour. What emerges is a vivid and compassionate portrait of multi-cultural London. They talk to some passengers and observe others. An unexpected page turner and you will find yourself caring about everyone you meet on the journey.
Set in Sudan in the 1890s during the Mahdi uprising, this novel echoes with voices and stories through the ages – and all moved me. But the strongest voice for me is that of the orphan Akuany, telling her experiences. It left me feeling angry and sad that mankind never learns that war brings nothing but grief; that religion can never be an excuse to slaughter others; that skin colour does not matter and all human beings are hurt in the same way.
Forget your expectations of nice short stories to lull you off to sleep, this experience is about as comfortable as sitting on a wasp nest. Each story will only take you five to ten minutes to read, but you will need a good day to recover from the shock that they deliver.
Poland, 1907, three Jewish boys set off to walk to Lublin to sell brushes. Such a simple premise for a story that, in a way, matches the innocence of the boys as they begin. Along the way there are promises of food and girls, laughs, tales of mythic villages and jokes. The boys will endear themselves to you. But as the journey progresses the veneer of innocence fades as the future begins to cast a foreboding shadow - though the jokes remain.
This collection of stories is the stage for disturbing family relations, unsettling marriages and cruelty against animals. All are written with powerful feeling for and understanding of the unspoken and inner thoughts of the protagonists. At times, I had to take a break - but I was still intrigued enough to pick it up again and continue reading.
What a thrilling ride this book is - breakneck speed, breath-holding tension and characters you really care about. The pervading fear created by the Nazi occupation of Rome, the night-time missions in the backstreets, the bravery of everyday folk - all so authentic. I welcomed the polyphonic voices - they gave the narrative a special depth and meaning; each member of the 'choir' adding to the experiences and actions of their fellow choristers.
