BOOKS


sufferers. But now healthy people are seeking out the clinic as a “time shelter”, hoping to escape from the horrors of our present. Gospodinov is a star of the Bulgarian literary scene, I’m told.


Michelle Hart We Do What We Do in the Dark Tinder Press, 3rd, £14.99, HB, 9781472296436


Début A short (224pp) novel depicting


a doomed love affair between Mallory, a young student, and her much older female professor. “A haunting study of soli- tude and connection”, says Meg Wolitzer. Author Hart was formerly assis- tant books editor at O, The Oprah Magazine.


Nick Holdstock Quarantine Swift Press, 5th, £14.99, HB, 9781800751002


Début Written before Covid-19, this is


set 10 years after a deadly pandemic swept the globe, when society is attempting to get back to “normal”. There is now a vaccine but no cure so Lukas, one of the last to contract the disease, waits in a quarantine camp in Central Asia.


Sophie Jai Wild Fires Te Borough Press, 12th, £14.99, HB, 9780008380342


Début Winner of The Borough Press


BAME Open Submission 2019 with The Good Literary Agency, this moves between Toronto and Trinidad and is said to be a “vivid portrayal of a


SFF Holly Black


Book of Night Del Rey, 3rd, £14.99, HB, 9781529102376


Previews New Titles: Fiction


family undone by grief, betrayal and regret.”


Deeply moving and magnificently observed, says Picador. BookScan


Julia May Jonas Vladimir Picador, 26th, £14.99, HB, 9781529080445


Début A popular English professor


has a mutual agreement with her husband, also a professor at the same US liberal arts college, regarding their extra- marital affairs. But life becomes uncomfortable when his former students make allegations of inap- propriate relationships. Exposes the messy contradictions of power and desire, says Picador.


Frances Liardet Think of Me 4th Estate, 12th, £16.99, HB, 9780008432270 Latest from the author of We Must be Brave moves between the Western Desert campaign of the Second World War and the quiet Hampshire village of Upton, where James, formerly a Hurricane pilot, hopes to find new purpose as a vicar even as he mourns the death of his wife, whom he met in Egypt.


into the orbit of dazzling actress Tamsin, who starts to neglect her job and old friends—until a news story about a decades- old sexual assault case breaks, and Emily realises Tamsin has been hiding a secret.


before, and golden boy Austen, whose world is rocked when his baby sister is born hearing. Novic is a deaf rights activist and author of Girl at War.


son Atlas, who dreams of a life far removed from his reality; Atlas’ daughter Calypso, who must find her place in an unforgiv- ing society; and her son Nautilus, who grapples with a complex identity.


J O Morgan Appliance Jonathan Cape, 19th, £16.99, HB, 9781787333888


Début First novel from the poet—


Kate Maxwell Hush Virago,12th, £16.99, HB, 9780349015088


Début Said to be a “taboo-busting”


Mieko Kawakami; Sam Bett & David Boyd (trans) All the Lovers in the Night Picador, 12th, £14.99, TPB, 9781509898268 Latest from the inter- nationally bestselling Japanese author of Breasts and Eggs follows shy, introverted Fuyuko, who cannot imagine a relationship in her life and is haunted by encounters of the past, as she searches for meaning.


novel about motherhood, following 38-year-old Stevie, who gives up a successful career in New York in order to return to London and have a baby on her own and, with a newborn, begins to wonder if having a child was a mistake…


Jessica Moor Young Women Manilla Press, 26th, £14.99, HB, 9781838778682 Latest from the author of Keeper is a “major launch” title for Manilla. It tells of Emily, drawn


Assurances won the Costa Poetry Award—is a story of how technology and our hunger for new things has the capacity to erode our human rights and freedoms. Set in a future in which distance is no longer a barrier to human contact as a simple trans- portation unit will be installed every home.


Stewart O’Nan Ocean State Grove Press UK, 5th, £16.99, HB, 9781611856552 Shades of “Mare of Easttown” says the publisher of this Rhode Island-set tale, in which Angel learns that her boyfriend Myles has been cheating on her with a classmate, and a chain of events is set in inexorable motion.


David Park Spies in Canaan Bloomsbury, 12th, £16.99, HB, 9781526631930 Said to be a bold and unsettling parable about guilt, atonement and redemption in which a retired man undertakes a literal journey into the desert and another one into long-suppressed memories of Vietnam and the dying days of war.


Sara Novic True Biz Little, Brown, 5th, £16.99, HB, 9781408714904 Set in a residential school for the deaf in Ohio, this follows the lives of rebellious transfer student Charlie, who has never met another deaf person


One to Watch


Début Del Rey is very excited about the first adult novel from the bestselling YA author (global sales of 26


million, according to the publisher). This is the first of a modern, dark, fantasy duology about shadowy thieves and secret societies.


Charlie is now trying to go straight, but she has spent half her life stealing for gloamists—magicians who manipulate shadows to nefarious ends—and when a terrible figure from her past appears, she is plunged back into a maelstrom of murder and lies. A UK author tour is planned, restrictions permit- ting. Standout beautiful jacket.


Commercial


Sara Cox Thrown Coronet, 12th, £12.99, HB, 9781529373837


“Between the Covers” and author of the memoir Till the Cows Come Home. The novel follows four women—single mum


Becky, vaguely dissatisfied Louise, hard-working Jameela and empty nester Sheila—who attend a new pottery class at their local community centre in the hope of making a fresh start. Cox is hugely personable and beloved of a wide potential reader- ship, so I would expect this to do very well indeed. Well positioned for fans of Dawn French, Marian Keyes and Ruth Jones.


26 4th February 2022


Jasmine Sealy The Island of Forgetting Te Borough Press, 26th, £14.99, HB, 9780008532895


Début Inspired by Greek mythology, this


Barbados-set début tells of four generations of one family: lonely Iapetus; his


Daniel Shand Model Citizens Corsair, 5th, £14.99, HB, 9781472156648 It’s been a year since Alastair received his “junior”, a clone designed to help him escape the daily grind. So why does Alastair spend his days alone, online, obsessing over his status? A “subversive and darkly comic” story of class, technology and identity, says Corsair.


Fiona Snyckers Lacuna Europa Editions, 19th, £12.99, TPB, 9781787703742


Début Lucie Lurie, the survivor of a


gang rape at her father’s farmhouse in the Western Cape, suffers terrible PTSD and becomes obsessed with finding and confronting J M Coetzee, author of a celebrated novel based on her attack. A response to the Booker Prize-winning Disgrace, told from the perspective of its female character.


Steve Toltz Here Goes Nothing


One to Watch


Début The début novel from the BBC Radio 2 presenter, host of BBC2’s weekly books programme


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40