Three new novels offer rich and engaging stories, each tackling themes of life, loss, and identity in unique ways. From an epistolary tale set during Trump’s campaign to a midlife crisis entwined with wartime horrors, and a vibrant night out in Manchester, these books showcase diverse voices and narratives.
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
Currently shortlisted for this year’s Women’s Prize For Fiction, this warm and engaging US debut would be a worthy winner. Set during Trump’s first presidential campaign, it unfolds as a series of letters and emails written and received by 73-year-old Sibyl, a retired lawyer whose former husband is dying of cancer in Belgium. Her correspondents include the writer Joan Didion (a quirky touch), a Syrian refugee named Basam, whom Sibyl promises to help find a job, and her adult children, shadowed by the loss of their brother aged eight. His death lies at the heart of the novel’s emotional wisdom, resolutely non-maudlin, always lightly worn. Evans’s epistolary structure cleverly generates a rich social panorama, full of life that feels all the more real for being only glimpsed.
Other People’s Children by Ben Faccini
There are layers of meaning to the title of this sharply observed tale of midlife crisis, which nests a buried episode of wartime horror deep inside a modern-day parenting drama set in London. Tom is caught between caring for his 90-year-old Italian grandmother and his girlfriend’s two sons when he isn’t writing reports for a company monitoring educational infrastructure around the world. When he tries to make life easier by moving everyone in with Nonna, his girlfriend bristles at her propensity to dispense fashion advice. More unsettling for Tom are her confused memories of forgotten atrocities. To top it all, his girlfriend’s ex is back on the scene. The narrator’s doom spiral keeps us riveted, mixing typical domestic dilemmas with the complex legacy of 20th-century bloodshed.
Wimmy Road Boyz by Sufiyaan Salam
This fizzy debut follows three British-Pakistani pals in their early 20s during a night out in Manchester. Adulthood has crept up on them and they’re not ready. Haris is a week away from his wedding day but has cold feet. Immy is trying to forget a messy one-night stand that only deepens his heartbreak over a lost love. Khan is about to start a high-flying job in London but is mired in settling his brother’s drug debt. More than plot, the sheer maximalist energy of Salam’s voice keeps us reading, as he sprays his similes gleefully around the page, drawing on a range of reference both historical and hyper-contemporary. A big-hearted buddy novel doubling as a state-of-the-nation snapshot of anxious young masculinity.
