June’s new fiction begins with two novels from what seems to be a never-ending stream of extremely talented Irish women writers, the first distinctly urban, the second rural.
Caroline O’Donoghue’s The Rachel Incident is a witty coming-of-age story about the eponymous Rachel and her gay friend, James, who share a dilapidated house in Cork in 2010. She’s the child of middle-class parents hit hard by the financial crash; he’s been brought up in poverty. When he spots her crush on her professor, James sets about helping her to act on it but things take a rather different and surprising turn. Review shortly… 
Set in rural Ireland in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s, Chloe Michelle Howarth’s Sunburn follows fifteen-year-old Lucy, assumed to be on the road to marriage and kids with her neighbour and best friend, Martin. One of a group of girls tightly bound by friendship, fraught with all the worries and pitfalls of adolescence, she tries to suppress her feelings for the lovely Susannah. Lucy tells us her story, full of the passion of first love and the terror of being discovered in a town alert to any non-conformity and judgemental of it. Overall, an enjoyable coming-of-age story which left me hoping things are easier these days for the Lucys of this world. Review soon…
Same sex love in early nineteenth-century London is the theme for Neil Blackmore’s Radical Love. John Church is a preacher ministering to a working-class Southwark congregation who spends his nights in the molly houses across the river offering to perform marriages for the rent boys and drag queens of Vine Street. Church falls in love with Ned, part of a group of African abolitionists, putting himself even more at risk. ‘Based on the incredible true story of one of the most important events in queer history, Radical Love is a sensuous and prescient story about gender and sexuality, and how the most vulnerable survive in dangerous times’ according to the blurb. It sounds unmissable to me.
Lucy Barker’s The Other Side of Mrs Wood is also set in Victorian London, this time in the world of mediums and seances. One of the city’s most revered practitioners, Mrs Wood is perturbed by the uptick in cancellations, not to mention reports of spectacular manifestations by American mediums. Knowing she needs to up her game, she takes on a protegee although Emmie may not be quite what she seems. Barker’s novel comes billed as an ’irresistible historical comedy about two rival mediums in Victorian London’. Despite the Twitter brouhaha which has been going for months around this one, it does sound worth a look.
Amanda Craig is a reliably good state-of-the-nation novelist. Her latest, The Three Graces, is set in Tuscany where the neighbour of three British retiree friends shoots an illegal immigrant from his bedroom window. Ruth, Tania and Marta find themselves drawn into the ensuing events together with their guests and the inhabitants of the local community. ‘Over two weeks in May, all these characters will face challenging choices as they grapple with their own past and with present dangers. For although the Tuscan spring looks as ravishing as a Renaissance painting, the realities of modern life make it harder and harder to believe that there is more that unites us than what keeps us apart’ says the blurb. A change of location for Craig although I suspect similar themes will pop up along with characters from her previous loosely connected novels.
A couple of years ago I read Nick Bradley’s The Cat and the City, a little apprehensive at the beginning that it might border on the twee but ending up enjoying it very much. His new novel, Four Seasons in Japan, sees translator Flo ready for a change when she spots an abandoned book on the Tokyo subway. Captivated by this story about a grandmother and a grandson bound together by a tragedy they’re unable to speak of, Flo sets about translating it. ‘A gorgeously crafted book-within-a-book about literature, purpose and what it is to belong’ say the publishers.
That’s it for June’s first batch of new fiction. As ever, a click on a title will take you to a more detailed synopsis for any that take you fancy. Part two soon…
Well, this sounds an appetising quartet. I’ll be on the look-out for every one of them.
Bingo!
Radical Love sounds incredible! What a story – unmissable, as you say.
It does, doesn’t it? A story rescued from obscurity.
I’ll be reading The Other Side of Mrs Wood soon, so I’m hoping it lives up to the hype! It certainly sounds like it should be enjoyable…
Excellent! I look out for your review.
Sunburn definitely sounds right up my street, but it’s Four Seasons in Japan that I am particularly interested in. That sounds gorgeous.
It does, doesn’t it, and such a lovely cover, too. I can certainly vouch for Sunburn.
Four Seasons in Japan looks especially appealing in this interesting group!
I so enjoyed The Cat and the City. Fingers crossed for this one.
I like the sound of The Other Side of Mrs Wood. I would have had a proof too if it wasn’t for my pesky fractured shoulder stopping me going to London!
It sounds like an amusing read, doesn’t it. How is your shoulder, Janet? I hope you’re through the worst of it.
I wonder if anything in particular has driven the the emergence of all these wonderful Irish women writers over the past ten years? Whatever the reason, it’s brilliant to see. Both Sunburn and The Rachel Incident sound very promising. so I’ll keep an eye out for your reviews.
Extraordinary, isn’t it? I’ve long loved Irish writing but women seem to have come to the fore. Very satisfying!
So many promising ones! It doesn’t look like we’re getting Radical Love here in the U.S., at least this summer, maybe later (I hope) or else I may need to hop onto Waterstone’s online. Same with Four Seasons in Japan.
Radical Love is definitely high on my list. I’ve since read Four Seasons and can thoroughly recommend it.
I’ll be looking out for The Rachel Incident and Sunburn.
Highly recommend both, Kate.
The last two are going straight to my tbr–well done, you!
You’re welcome! I’ve since read and enjoyed the Bradley.
I’ll look for Four Seasons in Japan. Loved the Rachel Incident. Have a good week.
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I’ve read and enjoyed Four Seasons in Japan since posting this. Will be reviewing it soon.