Lucia Berlin would have been all too familiar with the seamier side of work, fitting her stories around a multitude of jobs from teaching English to cleaning houses. She died in 2004 having written intermittently over a long period stretching back to the ‘60s. A Manual for Cleaning Women, a collection of her stories which draw heavily on her own life, was published last year to enormous and well deserved acclaim. There’s a striking immediacy in her short, crisp, carefully constructed sentences – from the graphic, panicky tooth extraction of ‘Doctor H. A. Moynihan’ to the gentleness of drunks recognising desperation in ‘Unmanageable’. Her material is often raw but there’s always a wry humour in her delivery. Without wanting to be a proselytising zealot, I’ll just say that this collection played a large part in converting me to the pleasure of reading short stories.
Written in a lighthearted, mischievous style Grégoire Delacourt’s The First Thing You See is 
I’ve yet to get my hands on the following four starting with Jenni Fagan’s The Sunlight Pilgrims. Anais, the main protagonist of Fagan’s debut, The Panopticon, was one of those characters who stayed with me for quite some time: bright, sassy and fierce – she was extraordinarily vividly drawn. I’m hoping for something similar with this one which seems to be set in the near future on a Scottish caravan park. It tells the story of a small community who are beginning to think that the freak weather spells the end of the world. Strange things are happening, the economy has collapsed and public services are in the hands of volunteers. I’m not a fan of dystopian fiction but Fagan’s writing is so striking that I’ll be making an exception for this one.
I tend not to be a fan of historical novels, either, but Naomi J. Williams’ debut Landfalls has a very attractive structure. Set on board two ships which set sail from France in 1785 on a voyage of scientific and geographical discovery returning four years later, it’s told from the perspective of different characters, all of whom have their own agenda, taking its readers from a remote Alaskan bay, where tragedy hits, to St Petersburg. It all sounds very ambitious but if it comes off I think this could be a very absorbing novel.
That’s it for August. A click on a title will take you to my reviews for the first three, to Waterstones website for a fuller synopsis for the next two and to The Writes of Women for Naomi’s review of the last one. And if you want to catch up with August’s hardback delights they’re here and here.
I have to stop reading this feature of yours, as it tempts me every single time and I seem to like all of them (perhaps our taste in books is too similar!).
I suspect you might be right. It’s your reviews of untranslated novels that save my pocket!
Having just embarked on a commitment to stop buying books (it may be my fifth attempt, but if at first you don’t succeed…) this blog is tooo much of a temptation. Testing my resolve, but in such a lovely way. Great selection of books as always.
Thanks, Belinda. I do find adding books to my never ending list helps that itch. Good luck!
These all sound great. I particularly like the sound of Love Me Back and The Private Life of Mrs Sharma – I’ve added them both to my list! Thank you 🙂
I can’t recommend Love Me Back highly enough, Gemma. I’m not sure it got much in the way of publicity when it was originally published.
Adding Love Me Back and The First Thing You See to the TBR list.
Have heard consistently good things about Mrs Sharma.
Pleased to hear that, Kate. As I remember you’re a foodie fiction aficionado in which case Love Me Back will be right up your alley.
Great selection, as always, Susan. At the beginning of the year you rated Love Me Back much more highly than I did but it’s really stayed with me. Interesting what lingers and what fades, isn’t it?
Berlin and Fagan are both on my TBR. Can’t believe the Fagan’s out in PB already, I’m sure the HB was only a few months ago. Looking forward to both.
Thanks for the mention for The Private Life of Mrs Sharma. It deserves so much more attention than it’s had.
You’re welcome. I was sent a copy and it didn’t appeal so off to the charity shop it went, then I read your review! My expectations of the Tierce weren’t very high which may account for how impressed I was by it. You’re right though – some books, even ones that seem impressive at the time, sink to the depths of my memory without trace but this one still seems vividly familiar. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the Berlin.
Good to see a paperback edition of A Manual for Cleaning Women on the horizon. Berlin’s stories are startling, so I hope this will enable her to reach an even wider audience of readers.
I hope so, too, Jacqui. Her stories are so sharply observed with a deep vein of compassion running through them.
I can certainly vouch for Berlin’s short stories… I’ve been dipping into the collection since last year and they are superb. I enjoyed Landfills too.
I’m definitely adding Love Me Back & Mrs Sharia to my August shopping list which is already considerable… haha, let them eat beans!!!
Beans are very good for you! Glad to here that Landfills is good, Poppy. I had thought it might go either way – quite an unwieldy structure if it’s not tightly controlled.
Ooh, I’m really intrigued by Love Me Back (also, that cover is *stunning*).
Yes, it’s much better than the hardback edition. I hope you read it. Really hit the spot for me!
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