No contest as to which book to begin November’s paperback preview. Shortlisted for this year’s Booker, Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These was one of my books of last year. Set in 1985, it follows Bill Furlong who finds himself faced with a moral dilemma. Bill’s illegitimacy marks him out in New Ross but he’s done well thanks to the generosity of Mrs Wilson, his mother’s employer. On the Sunday before Christmas, he delivers a load of coal to the local convent and makes a dreadful discovery. There’s long been gossip about the young girls taken in for ‘training’ in the convent laundry, often pregnant when they arrive, but the people of New Ross have looked the other way. Keegan tells her story from Bill’s perspective, a decent man well aware that life would have been very different for him. Fingers crossed for tonight’s Booker announcement.
Adam O’Riordan’s The Falling Thread caught my eye partly because he’s a poet, raising hopes for some fine writing. In the summer of 1890, Charles is spending the university vacation at home in Manchester relieving his boredom with an affair with his sisters’ governess for which there will be lifelong consequences. His sisters grow up in the new century, a very different world in prospect from their brother’s until the outbreak of war changes everything. ‘A captivating portrait of a family in time, The Falling Thread is a hauntingly evocative debut novel from one of our most exciting literary talents’ say the publishers promisingly.
Jamal Mahjoub’s The Fugitives sees erstwhile Khartoum jazz band The Kamanga Kings invited to perform in Washington D.C. The son of one of the band’s original members sets about trying to reassemble the band who find themselves in an unaccustomed spotlight. ‘As they move from the familiarity of Khartoum to the chaos of Donald Trump’s America, Jamal Mahjoub weaves a gently humorous and ultimately universal tale of music, belonging and love’ according to the blurb. It’s the sheer outlandishness of this premise that makes me want to read it.
Handheld Press have brought some absolute corkers back into print over the past few years, one of the most successful of which is Jane Oliver and Ann Stafford’s Business as Usual which cheered me up no end during lockdown. First published in 1936, John Llewelyn Rhys’ love story The Flying Shadow is the latest from them, following young Welshman Robert Owen, late of the Royal Air Force, now teaching at an English flying school where overly confident pupils present a challenge. Rhys’ writing was frequently compared with Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s when his work was first published, apparently.
November’s paperback short story collection is John Edgar Wideman’s Look For Me and I’ll Be Gone about the current state of America. ‘Historical and contemporary, intimate and expansive, the stories here represent a pioneering writer whose innovation, form and imagination know no bounds’ say the publishers. Not much else to be deduced from the blurb but it’s a theme that has a perennial interest for me.
I’m rounding off November’s paperbacks with an unusual one for me in that it’s a set of essays. Ann Patchett’s These Precious Days explores family, writing, marriage, love, friendship and death, with which her collection begins and ends, all written in an
intimate warm style, full of insight, humour and compassion. These are lovely pieces, like sitting down with a friend blessed with the skill of drawing you in with a warm welcome, just as Patchett does with her fiction. She has a knack of writing about an apparently inconsequential pleasant memory, making a point at the end as if tying a package up with a satisfying bow. I loved it.
That’s it for November. As ever, a click on a title will take you either to my review or to a more detailed synopsis if you’d like to know more, and if you want to catch up with the month’s new titles they’re here and here. December next when I’m expecting slim pickings.
I’ve just finished – and loved – the Keegan. Though the setting seemed earlier than the 80s to me, but that’s the most minor of quibbles. Your other choices are ones to look out for – thanks for the round up.
Always welcome, and I’m glad you enjoyed the Keegan. Very much hoping it will win the Booker.
Thank you. I love Ann Patchett’s writing and this sounds great.
You’re welcome! It’s a lovely book to dip into.
Small Things Like These is so good, I still think about it. A perfect tiny gem. The Flying Shadow also sounds really good, I will definitely look out for that.
I think Handheld are also issuing a collection of Rhys’ short stories alongside The Flying Shadow. Absolutely agree about the Keegan.
Keegan has to be my first choice for the Booker tomorrow. (even over Alan Garner!).
I love ‘getting the band back together’ themes – so The Fugitives sounds one to look out for.
Such a great premise for The Fugitives. It sounds as if it’s got a touch of the Buena Vista Social Clubs about it to me. I’ve yet to read the Garner but I’m sure it would also make a worthy winner.
I wonder if Keegan will take home the prize tonight! I just read her novella/long short story Foster this morning and it surpassed Small Things Like These for me.
I’d love it if she did. It was Cathy 746 who put me on to Foster, a beautiful piece of writing.
After loving Small Things, when I saw her Foster in a bookshop in London, I didn’t hesitate to buy a copy! Looking forward to reading it (maybe for Novella November)!
I hope you love it as much as Small Things, Davida.
A tempting selection as always. Keegan is on my list, both this and Foster. The Flying Shadow and the Pratchett look good too, the later especially for the doggo on the cover
Isn’t it a sweetie? Great collection of essays, too.
Looking forward to the Keegan as part of Novella November, and I have the Patchett on my TBR list.
Hope you enjoy them, Kate. Sad that the Keegan didn’t get the Booker but I think the book got much more attention for the shortlisting than it would otherwise have done
These all sound so tempting, especially the O’Riordan. Sounds very promising – like you I always have high hopes of poets turned novelists!
I think it was Helen Dunmore who first brought that link to mind for me.
Like you, I found Small Things Like These a fantastic read. Hopefully the paperback edition will find it a newer, wider audience.
I felt it made an excellent Christmas read, Janet, although not a conventional one. Maybe readers will pick up on that.
The Fugitives sounds fantastic! Hadn’t heard of it before.
Doesn’t it, just? Looking forward to reading it.
Great to see Small Things Like These coming out in paperback, just in time for the run-up to Christmas. It’s been a good seller in h/b, so hopefully the p/b will expand Keegan’s readership even further. The Flying Shadow sounds really interesting, and a great cover to boot!
It’s great timing, isn’t it. Pleased to hear it’s been selling well, Jacqui. Handheld Press have a good eye for cover design, I think.