books reviews


ACCESS ALL AREAS Barbara Charone (White Rabbit, £20)


online, she falls into a hedonistic relationship with another woman and her suave, domineering boyfriend.


THE LAST WITCH CRAZE Tony McAleavy (Amberley, £18)


During the 1970s, music journalism was a male-dominated arena, but Chicago-born Barbara Charone broke through the barriers, writing for Rolling Stone, Creem, NME and Sounds when barely out of her teens. She then moved into music PR, working for Warner Brothers for two decades before setting up her own company MBC. Its client roster includes Madonna, Depeche Mode, Rufus Wainwright, Foo Fighters and Elvis Costello, who has written the foreword for Charone’s memoir Access All Areas. Within these pages, there are many wonderful anecdotes with a large and varied cast. When Charone interviewed Toots & The Maytals for Creem, she ignored advice to forego the “Jamaican pot” on offer, and after the interview sat in her rental car “shellshocked” and unable to drive. Circa 1983, Madonna is picked up from her B&B by Charone in a minicab, before playing a showcase at the Camden Palace; to this day, Charone is still Madonna’s UK PR. Spanning five decades of cultural change, Access All Areas is an incredible insight into the ever-changing world of music PR and journalism. Having sat on both sides of that fence, its author is as honest about success as she is the inevitable difficulties.


DAVID NOBAKHT


ACTS OF SERVICE Lilian Fishman


(Europa Editions. £12.99)


Fans of Sally Rooney will relish this intimately told, cerebral tale: both authors share a penchant for morally ambiguous romances and highly introspective heroines, plus an annoying aversion to speech marks. Some may find its privileged narrator and tepid resolution problematic; others may dismiss it as an albeit better written Fifty Shades. Yet at its heart, Acts Of Service is an intelligent, fearless exploration into the blurred lines between consent and coercion. It dares to ask if the two female protagonists’


innate, or subconsciously forced upon them by a patriarchal society. In


desires


whether it is possible to be liberated through being willingly degraded, and if passion can – or should – ever win out against shame.


doing so, Fishman questions RACHEL REES


BAD EMINENCE James Greer


(And Other Stories, £14.99/£11.99 Ebook)


are truly


the Cordoba nights to make a living as sex workers.


is Aunty Encarna, who owns the “queerest boarding house in


A fascinating, in-depth account of man of letters John Aubrey’s investigation into the witch craze in


the astounding witch trials that followed. Moreover, Aubrey – a pioneering writer and respectable, leading member of the Royal Society – harnessed a dark secret: he was himself an active wizard, who used black magic rituals to summon demons to try and utilise their power.


17th century England, and


additionally delves into the stories of Robert Boyle and Henry More, two men who were early members of the same society as Aubrey. Boyle and More encouraged new ways of thinking and publicly endorsed the use of experimental ideas, leading to the reconciliation of science and sorcery. Author Tony McAleavy has


The Last Witch Craze


world” and who one night discovers a baby boy hidden within the park. The decision to keep him in her care ultimately leads to consequences for the wider family. Highlighting the themes of gender, love and family, the raw experiences are described in graphic, unflinching detail – portrayed by a host of unforgettable characters, and providing an honest account of the heartbreaking and difficult experiences shared on a daily basis. Having


Central to the lives of the group the


acclaim and been translated into several languages, The Queens…’ English translator Kit Maude has expertly captured Villada’s poetic turns of phrase. This is an illuminating and imaginative story featuring hints of surrealism and plenty of drama, whose author conveys the visceral journey and provides a thought-provoking, hopeful read.


received international RHIANON HOLLEY


TAKEAWAY Angela Hui (Trapeze, £16.99)


Unlike anything I’ve read before, this novel is a madcap study in biting irony. For the first half of Bad Eminence, I laughed at its deliciously sardonic sense of humour – yet the book then progressively loses its way somewhat.


Living


in Wales, hot summers can be few and far between, but Lilian Fishman’s debut


Acts Of Service is a modern, provocative love story guaranteed to have you overheating in no time. Twentysomething barista Eve has grown bored of her staid, dependable girlfriend, and worries that she is squandering her youth by not seeking out a more exciting life. After posting pictures of herself


novel 46


The narration, heavily literary and drenched in French and Latin, fits the narrator perfectly; it might annoy readers less than comfortable with either language, though given how obnoxious the narrator is, that might be the purpose. And why not? I found the POV of Vanessa, the protagonist, very entertaining. After a bit of grandiose, contradictory self-adoration, it can be – often is – fun to laugh at from the reader perspective. But James Greer takes the reader on a rollercoaster ride, where things get out of control and ridiculous. We lose our fun narrator who becomes more serene, without change to their inflated ego. There is much to be said for breaking the novel’s


regards form and structure, but to allow an otherwise intelligent quasi-satire to descend into silly nonsense is unfortunate. Much of Bad Eminence is raucously fun and engaging, but I often found myself unsure of what I was reading, and would struggle to explain its plot out loud without feeling ludicrous.


rules as BILLIE INGRAM SOFOKLEOUS


The Queens Of Sarmiento Park, a moving and honest novel from Argentinian writer Camila Sosa Villada, is in part based on her actual experiences. It’s a coming- of-age story whose narrator – named Camila, indeed – details the lives of the ‘travesti’ who join together at Sarmiento park during


unearthed Aubrey’s secret ways and manual of spells that have been locked away for centuries in Oxford’s Bodleian Library. The Last Witch Craze shines a light on the insidious and previously unknown side to Aubrey’s life and places it in a wider context through scientific thinking. Featuring engrossing art and photographs that only aid in the voluminous research and peculiar chronicle, this intellectual book will leave you with abundant food for thought and no doubt provoke ample discussion.


JOHN EVANS


THE QUEENS OF SARMIENTO PARK Camila Sosa Villada (Virago, £14.99)


Subtitled


Childhood Behind The Counter, in TakeawayAngela Hui details family life serving Chinese food in in Beddau, a Rhondda village. In thousands of locales across Britain, there’s a Chinese restaurant not unlike theirs, the Lucky Star: an unequivocal part of the community experience. And yet the people loyally serving sweet and sour chicken


rolls every night are never wholly included in that community – separated not just by the countertop between them, but via endemic racist attitudes. Takeaway


and vegetable spring


angry detailing of all the times Hui was discriminated against or otherwise wronged or – though this


is is not merely an


certainly prevalent – nor does she suggest her early life and home were anything but happy. She speaks fondly of the rolling green hills of the Valleys and admires the


which glued all 4,000 residents of Beddau together, emphasising that she wouldn’t have traded her life in Wales for the world. Rather, this book is a truthful, heartfelt plea for tolerance and humanity: a “fortune cookie of joy and an education to what goes on behind closed doors in the nation’s favourite takeaway”.


intense, communal mindset MEGAN THOMAS


Stories From A


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