A disappointing October paperback preview, just enough to fill one post beginning with the latest from an author whose previous novel was a surprise hit for me. I enjoyed Hiroko Oyamada’s Weasels in the Attic ending my review saying that I was keen to explore more of her writing. Originally published in Japan in 2013, The Factory is set in a workplace where employees perform repetitive tasks for a company which caters for their every need, with no clue as to what their labour is for. Despite the increasingly surreal thread running through Oyamada’s novella, it struck a chord, reminding me of working for large organisations, way back when, whose machinations were often a mystery to me.
Despite a mild disappointment with Mary Beth Keane’s Ask Again, Yes a couple of years ago I decided to try again with The 
Half Moon set in a small American town over a blizzard-hit weekend. Recently separated, Malcolm and Jess grew up in Gillam but while she went away to law school he stayed, working as a bartender at the Half Moon for a couple of decades. The storm hits during the bar’s busiest month leaving Malcolm desperate for the weather to clear while Jess has returned for the first time since leaving their home, taking tentative steps towards a new relationship. Meanwhile, a regular has gone missing after picking an uncharacteristic fight. Keane catches the claustrophobia of living in a small town counterbalanced by long enduring friendships and neighbourliness. I enjoyed this one much more than her previous novel – an absorbing, atmospheric story, well told.
Bryan Washington missed my 2019 books of the year by a whisker with Lot but made it on to 2021’s list with Memorial. He did it again last year with Family Meal which sees Cam returning to Houston after his lover dies. Washington explores friendship, family and grief through Cam’s reluctant homecoming, his unravelling through drugs and food but above all his friendship with TJ whose family took Cam in as their own when he lost his parents. Blood ties run undeniably deep but less conventional families can be just as strong and loving, if not more so, and just as bedevilled by conflict, illustrated beautifully by Washington through these two men and their relationship with each other. A brilliant novel, both heartrending and heartening, filled with humanity and love.
Set in Moscow in 1985, Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry’s Between Dog and Wolf is about four teenagers longing for everything their Western counterparts enjoy. Around them, tentative hopes of freedom from oppression are growing despite the threat of draconian crackdowns. ‘Although it depicts a chaotic and desperate era, this exceptional debut novel pulsates with life. It is radiant with friendship and love, the power of international literature, values and politics, as its characters struggle to survive, to save their country and one another’ says the blurb promisingly.
A couple of years ago I read and enjoyed Anbara Salam’s Belladonna, a page-turning piece of storytelling which followed two schoolfriends, one obsessed with the other. Hazardous Spirits sounds entirely different. Evelyn Hazard is sent into a tizzy when her husband suddenly announces he can speak with the dead, increasingly concerned that dark secrets will surface as they become entangled in the burgeoning spiritualist movement emerging from the First World War and the Spanish ‘Flu pandemic. ‘A gothic literary mystery, written in sparkling prose, Hazardous Spirits evokes the spirit of 1920s Edinburgh, in all its bohemian vibrancy’ according to the blurb.
Hideo Yokoyama’s The North Light follows an architect, stalled in his career and his marriage, shocked to find that what he regards as his greatest achievement, the award winning Yoshino House, is empty apart from one chair which faces Mount Asama. Aose becomes determined to discover what lies behind the apparent rejection of the house into which he had put so much leading him to face a truth about himself. ‘Plotted with the subtlety of his bestselling masterpiece Six Four, The North Light is Yokoyama at his elusive, tantalising and surprising best’ says the blurb a little ambivalently. Sounds intriguing.
That’s it for October. A click on a title will take you either to my review or to a more detailed synopsis should you want to know more, and if you’d like to catch up with new fiction it’s here and here.
I spotted Anbara Salam’s The Salvage, which sounded fab (deep sea diving horror!), in a 2024 catalogue at a John Murray event at the Durham Book Festival last year, but it looks like publication has been pushed to 2025. 1920s spiritualism is a bit of a hard sell for me but I might have to check out her other stuff while waiting.
That’s quite niche! I’m not sure Hazardous Spirits is for me but I enjoyed Belladonna which is quite dark.
Still plenty of temptations Susan! Between Dog and Wolf does sound promising.
There are, aren’t there! Always interested in fiction set during that period leading up to the fall of the old USSR.
Hazardous Spirits sounds fun, I think I will like it. I’m pretty sure also that I had bookmarked Dog and Wolf to pick up via Edelweiss and then forgot all about it (which is probably a good thing considering the number of books I’ve been adding to the review pile).
Always so tempting, isn’t it. Definitely keen to read Dog and Wolf.
I like the sound of Between Dog and Wolf (I’m such a sucker for an 80s setting) and The North Light.
Me, too, particularly in that part of the world.The North Light sounds intriguing, doesn’t it.
The only one here that isn’t speaking to me is the Anbara Salam. I’m heading for all the rest – apart from the Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry which, irritatingly isn’t in the library catalogue. I’ll have to find a way round that though. It looks intriguing
That’s a pretty good hit rate. Maybe they’ll get the Gorcheva-Newberry in for you.
Maybe. Let’s see … they are pretty good.
Oooh right, the Mary Beth Keane goes straight on the list. I liked Ask Again, Yes a little better than you did, but wasn’t sure about the way the story played out. However, I did really like her writing, so I’m delighted you rate this one.
I think Half Moon would make a great winter read: a relatively undemanding but well written novel you can sink into.
Hmm, I tried Hazardous Spirits and gave up within a few pages – the writing is terrible, like reading something that’s been translated by Google. One sentence as an example “Jeanie nodded with the indecent haste of someone thrilled to find themselves perpendicular to a drama.” Perpendicular?
The Factory sounds quite appealing, though…
Cringeworthy! Thanks for that. I feel I should make a public service announcement warning readers. I can vouch for The Factory, though.
I like the sound of Hazardous Spirits.
A bit put off that by FictionFan’s comment but the theme is certainly an interesting one.
North Light just went to my TBR for Reading Japanese Literature this winter. Thanks!
Delighted to hear that!
Thanks for the alert about The Factory – have just put it on hold in the library
I hope you enjoy it, Karen.