September’s preview starts with Jenny Erpenbeck’s Go Went Gone, a book I’ve been hoping to see in translation since MarinaSofia over at Finding Time to Write mentioned it earlier in the year. In it Erpenbeck explores the opening of Germany’s borders to refugees and the effects of their arrival on German society through Richard, an academic who lives in Berlin. The novel is ‘a passionate contribution to the debate on race, privilege and nationality and a beautifully written examination of an ageing man’s quest to find meaning in his life’ according to the publishers. I very much enjoyed Erpenbeck’s The End of Days which told the story of the Eastern European twentieth century through a woman whose fate is constantly reimagined rather in the way that Kate Atkinson does with Ursula Todd in Life After Life.
Not so very far away, Żanna Słoniowska’s The House with the Stained-glass Window begins in 1989 when a soprano at the Lviv opera is shot dead while leading her fellow citizens in a protest against Soviet power. She leaves an eleven-year-old daughter who tells the story of their family both before and after the shooting. ‘Just like their home city of Lviv, which stands at the crossroads of nations and cultures, the women in this family have had turbulent lives, scarred by war and political turmoil, but also by their own inability to show each other their feelings. Lyrically told, this is the story of a young girl’s emotional, sexual, artistic and political awakening’ say the publishers. This is such an interesting period in that part of the world, the repercussions of which are still being felt today.
Since its longlisting for this year’s Man Booker the publication of my next choice has been brought forward to August but I can’t bring myself to let it go unmentioned. In Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire, a young woman realises her dream of studying in America but can’t stop worrying about her twin siblings: the headstrong Aneeka in London, and Parvaiz who seems intent on following the same path as his jihadist father. Then the son of a powerful British Muslim politician enters the sisters’ lives: ‘Is he to be a chance at love? The means of Parvaiz’s salvation? Two families’ fates are inextricably, devastatingly entwined in this 
searing novel that asks: what sacrifices will we make in the name of love? A contemporary reimagining of Sophocles’ Antigone, Home Fire is an urgent, fiercely compelling story of loyalties torn apart when love and politics collide’ say the publishers a little melodramatically. It’s been quite some time since Shamsie’s last novel, A God in Every Stone, and I’m sure that the Man Booker longlisting will only have added to the anticipation for this one, published tomorrow.
Which can also be said about Claire Messud’s The Burning Girl. There was a bit of a literary stir back in 2013, the year Messud’s The Woman Upstairs was published in the UK, when an interviewer asked her why her narrator was so unlikeable. Messud gave a somewhat waspish response – and who can blame her? How tedious fiction would be if every character was nice. Her new novel looks at female friendship through two women who have been friends since nursery school but whose paths diverge leaving one of them feeling cast aside. ‘Disturbed, angry and desperate for answers, she sets out on a journey that will put her own life in danger, and shatter her oldest friendship. Compact, compelling, and ferociously sad, The Burning Girl is at once a story about childhood, friendship and community, and a complex examination of the stories we tell ourselves about childhood and friendship’ say the publishers which sounds right up my street.
I’m not so sure about Estep Nagy’s We Shall Not Sleep, a debut set in the summer of 1964. The Quicks and the Hillsingers have shared a small Maine island for generations but despite two intermarriages the families have little to do with each other. This year things look set to change. ‘We Shall Not All Sleep is a richly told story of American class, family, and manipulation–a compelling portrait of a unique and privileged WASP stronghold on the brink of dissolution’ according to the publishers. I like the sound of that but not so much the mention of violent games and sadistic older brothers which appears further on in the very detailed blurb.
My last choice for September is set in a bleak, hungry and frozen London in January 1947. Patrick McGrath’s The Wardrobe Mistress tells the story of Joan whose actor husband, the great Charlie Grice, has died. Persuaded against her will to attend a benefit performance of Charlie’s last play, Joan is shocked to see her husband’s eyes staring back at her from his understudy’s face. Grief-stricken, she seeks comfort with the young actor but discovers a dreadful secret. Anyone who’s read McGrath’s previous fiction will be expecting more than a touch of the gothic and it sounds as if they won’t be disappointed.
That’s it for September titles. A little thin this year, given that it’s the beginning of the run up to Christmas in the publishing year but I’m sure October will be jam-packed with goodies. Paperbacks soon…
I have McGrath’s The Wardrobe Mistress to read shortly and it sounds intriguing doesn’t it?
It certainly does! I’ve enjoyed his novels before although not so much Constance, his last one.
This will be my first one of his but looking forward to it
I LOVE LOVE LOVE books about friendships that span decades, so I’ll be checking out The Burning Girl. And in the same way, I love family sagas, so We Shall Not Sleep is calling my name (with the added bonus of being set in Maine – it’s probably because of John Irving, but I also really love books set in Maine!).
I’m a sucker for books set in Maine, too, although I’m hoping those descriptions of sibling violence aren’t too graphic. The Woman Upstairs was caustically brilliant so I’m hoping for the same from this one.
Two of my favourite recent discoveries there: Jenny Erpenbeck and Claire Messud. I’d read shopping lists written by them, to be honest. I also really like the sound of Home Fire – political novels and ideology vs. family topics are always dear to my heart.
Yes, it’s a shorter list than I’d expect at this time of the year for me but the titles on it are all meaty ones. Did you read the Erpenbeck in German?
Yes! I want to read more of her books, but not in translation. Sorry, don’t want to be a booksnob, but if I can read it in the original, I do prefer it that way.
Not at all! I’d do the same if I was a linguist.
Ooh, things are definitely hotting up pre-Christmas! Some excellent writers there: Messud, Erpenbeck, Shamsie, McGrath. All sound excellent. Will be testing my already tested book famine. I’ll have to stay away from shops, and the internet!
It’s a toothsome selection this month, isn’t it. Maybe a few titles for your Christmas wishlist?
Maybe, but I am sorely tempted by a subscription to Fitzcarraldo editions. Sorely, sorely tempted. There are far too many good books being published.
Always the way!
I have not heard of any of these. I will have to check them out!
Hope you find something you like amongst them.
I think I will. They sound great! <3
The Kamila Shamsie seems like a timely read. Have you tried it yet? I’m always a little wary of reimaginings of classic texts, but the premise of this one does sound compelling.
I have, Jacqui, and it is indeed compelling. I know what you mean – reimaginings can be very clunky but Shamsie carries this one off well with only a little faltering in one of the sections.
The Burning Girl is going straight on my wish list. I’ve been reading the Ferrante Neapolitan novels which I find brilliant in parts and less so in others – again, it’s the appeal of the saga and the differing dynamics between friends. Will be very interested to read Messud’s take on a similar (I’m guessing) theme.
I wasn’t so keen on the Ferrantes as many readers were but I loved The Woman Upstairs. Fingers crossed for some more acerbic observations!
The Kamila Shamsie sounds great as does the new Clare Messud. I adored The Woman Upstairs.
Me, too. A firecracker of a book. I’ve since red and very much enjoyed the Shamsie. It deserves its place on the Man Booker longlist.