4th April 2025
Books Spotlight Discover
Titles in this Discover preview are to be published in May 2025 Previews
These spring titles explore themes of identity, desire and control
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Our expert, their picks
Natasha Onwuemezi
Natasha is a freelance writer, editor and strategist with more than 10 years’ experience working across print and digital. She guest edits the Black Issue of The Bookseller, an annual focus on Black writers and publishing professionals.
William Rayfet Hunter Sunstruck Cornerstone, 15th, £16.99, HB 9781529919790 Winner of the 2022 #Merky Books New Writers’ Prize, Sunstruck is an
evocative and striking debut reminiscent of Saltburn and Call Me By Your Name. It follows an unnamed protagonist as he spends the summer with a very wealthy friend and her family and becomes captivated by her charismatic and guarded brother. With lush prose and sharp social commentary, Hunter’s sun-drenched tale of desire and power explores race, status, class and queer love.
Charlotte Mendelson Wife: A Darkly Comic Queer Love Story Gone Wrong Picador, 1st, £9.99, PB, 9781529052831
In Wife, Zoe Stamper, a nervous academic, embarks on a passionate affair with the glamorous, openly gay Dr Penny Cartwright. What begins as a thrilling romance soon unravels, revealing the darker side of love and the toll it can take. Mendelson’s darkly comic novel delves into the complexities of relationships, exploring themes of passion, power and the consequences when love leads to disaster.
Matilde Pratesi Pig Corsair, 1st, £20, HB, 9781472159106
Both unsettling and exhilarating, Pratesi’s debut follows bookseller
Valentina as she transforms her obsession with pigs into an unexpected source of power. A bold, unflinching look at control and abuse beyond traditional relationships, this Caledonia Novel Award-shortlisted book is a razor-sharp exploration of toxic female friendship and manipulation.
Vauhini Vara Searches Grove Press, 1st, £16.99, PB, 9781804710685
In Searches, Pulitzer Prize finalist Vara delivers a deeply personal and thought-provoking exploration of how technology shapes language, memory and human connection. From turning to the internet for answers as a teen to using artificial intelligence (AI) to write about her sister’s death, Vara blends memoir with sharp analysis to examine our evolving relationship with digital tools, the encroachment of social media into our lives and how we might work with AI in the future.
Liann Zhang Julie Chan is Dead (Or That’s What She Needs You To Think) Raven Books, 1st, £16.99, HB, 978-1526681942
Thrillingly twisty, Julie Chan is Dead (Or That’s What She Needs You To Think) follows identical twins separated by tragedy – Julie, a struggling cashier, and Chloe, a glamorous influencer. When Julie finds Chloe dead, a split-second decision changes everything: she assumes her sister’s identity, stepping into a world of fame, fortune and deception. But as she unravels the truth behind Chloe’s death, Julie realizes she’s in more danger than she ever imagined – and someone knows her secret.
F Kuang’s Yellowface (Fourth Estate) was one of the most talked about books of 2023, so perhaps it’s no wonder that darkly funny titles interrogat-
ing the nature of identity and influence are popping up in its wake. Jen Calleja’s Fair (Prototype Publishing) is a playful title that examines the role of the literary translator in publishing, the ways we define success and what it means – and whether it is possible – to make a living as an artist. Meanwhile, Liann Zhang’s Julie Chan is Dead (Or That’s What She Needs You To Think) (Raven Books) sees a young woman step into her deceased twin’s life as an influencer, only to discover a number of dark secrets hidden behind her social- media façade.
The theme of identity is echoed in
Katie Goh’s Foreign Fruit: A Personal History of the Orange (Canongate) – a hybrid memoir that uses the journey and cultivation of a single fruit, the orange, to reckon with the author’s identity; Elizabeth Hsieh’s backbuilding (Verve Poetry Press), a poetry collection that addresses questions of uncer- tainty and identity after a lifelong period of spiritual brainwashing; and Shireen Lalji and Lucy Fleming’s empowering picture book So Devin Wore a Skirt (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books), which beautifully explores self-identity and gender expression. In fiction, a particular highlight is the lush
and lyrical Sunstruck by William Rayfet Hunter, who I had the pleasure of interviewing last year for The Bookseller’s Black Issue.
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Spotlight: Discover
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