The second instalment of May’s new fiction begins with a novel by one of my favourite writers. Sarah Moss’s Ripeness sees a woman in her seventies 
remembering the months she spent in Italy as a seventeen-year-old in the 1960s. Edith is the child of a Derbyshire hill farmer and a refugee whose family disappeared in the Holocaust. She barely knew her elder sister yet it’s Edith who her mother insists must attend Lydia at the Italian villa where she’s holed up, heavily pregnant and angry at this interruption in her ballet career. The months that follow will be formative for Edith who grows from a naïve young woman into one who will make her way confidently across Europe, taking up her place at Oxford. This is a deeply reflective novel exploring themes of belonging, identity, autonomy, family, motherhood and community through Edith’s story, her background and the backgrounds of those around her. Review to follow…
In Eric Puchner’s Dream State, Cece has travelled to the Montana summer house she’s come to love since being embraced by Charlie’s family to plan their wedding while he remains in L A. His old college roommate is to officiate at their wedding, not Cece’s choice, nor Garrett’s but Charlie is his best friend. Over the next few weeks, Cece tries to quash doubts about her future while Garrett attempts to stamp out his feelings for her. Puchner charts a path for these three that takes them through marriage, parenthood, tragedy and ageing over a half-century, always with the friendship between Charlie and Garrett at its foundation. Puchner’s novel’s a bit of a doorstopper but absorbing enough to keep me reading it. Review shortly…
David Park’s Spies in Canaan was one of my 2022 books of the year. He writes quietly understated yet powerful novels that don’t seem to get the attention they deserve. In Ghost Wedding, a First World War veteran is sent by his employers to construct a lake for the Rimington family, finding escape from traumatic memories with one of the family’s servants. A century later, Alex and Ellie are planning to marry in the grounds of the Rimingtons’ house, Alex haunted by a secret and whether he should share it with Ellie. ‘In this masterful portrait of love and betrayal, David Park reveals the many ways the past seeps into the present: destructive, formidable, but also hopeful, in the many moments of fragile beauty that remain’ says the blurb promisingly.
I’ve read and enjoyed several of Daniel Kehlmann’s novels each of them different from the others, ranging from You Should Have Left, a brief slice of horror, to Tyll, a chunkster set in the seventeenth-century. In The Director, G. W. Pabst flees Austria when the Nazis annexe it heading to Hollywood where no one knows who he is despite his towering reputation in his own country. Returning home, he and his family are horrified by what they find but Goebbels is determined to harness Pabst’s talent for his propaganda machine, refusing all resistance. ‘Daniel Kehlmann’s novel about art and power, beauty and barbarism is a triumph. The Director shows what literature is capable of’ says the blurb. Very much like the sound of that.
That cover looks a bit like a saga, not a genre I read, but Nicola Kraus’s The Best We Could Hope For comes from the excellent Verve Books so it seems worth a look. It sees Bunny taking off, abandoning her three children to her older sister, convinced that Jayne will be a better mother to them. Jayne and her husband provide a stable home for the three together with their own child but after almost ten years, Bunny turns up and all the cards are thrown in the air. ‘As adults, their children try to reassemble the pieces and solve the mystery that has always haunted them: who were their parents? What really happened between them? And who is ultimately to blame for the destruction’ asks the blurb.
That’s it for May’s new fiction. As ever, a click on a title will take you to a more detailed synopsis should you want to know more, and if you’d like to catch up with part one it’s here. Paperbacks soon…
I’ve got a copy of Ripeness and can’t wait to read it. Dream State sounds promising (something about the blurb, maybe just the chunkiness and the following a marriage across decades, reminds me of Nathan Hill’s Wellness, which I adored). And I wonder if I should try some David Park—he does pop up every now and then, and seems to be a very good and thoughtful writer whose novels don’t shout.
Ripeness is a treat! I think you’d probably like Dream State. Both the friendship and marriage themes are well handled. Park is such an underrated writer. I’d love to see more notice taken of his work.
Do you have a suggestion for where to start with Park?
Travelling in a Strange Land, Spies in Canaan and The Light of Amsterdam are all excellent.
Thank you!
A new David Park and a new Daniel Kehlmann? We are being spoiled!
We are!
I’ve been disappointed by Moss’s recent fiction (having been a fan since her very first novel) but Ripeness sounds like a welcome departure and I’m looking forward to it.
I really enjoyed this one although I’ve been happy with her others, too. Hope it hits the spot for you.
I have enjoyed some of Moss’s books, and I like her weekly column in the Irish Times. So I will watch out for this new one. David Park is a regular here at Listowel Writers Week, and I think he is coming this June to promote this new book, which I will have to read. He is understated and underrated I think. All of the other books reviewed here sound interesting. I think I studied Pabst’s films in university many years ago!
You’ll have to read the Kehlmann! David Park’s such a reliably good writer. I’m sorry his books don’t get the attention they deserve here.
I’ll be reading the Moss (digitally) and Puchner (I have a print proof) for sure. Looking forward to both!
Hope you enjoy them, Rebecca. The Moss is heading for my books of 2025 list.
The Sarah Moss and David Park both look excellent stories; I haven’t read (or heard of) David Park and take note of your comment that he doesn’t get the attention he deserves so I’m looking forward to discovering him, thank you!
Delighted to have brought him to your attention, Jane! I hope you enjoy his writing as much as I do.
Ooh lots of interesting books here. I’m very intrigued by Ripeness (I will admit I’ve not yet read Sarah Moss but have been meaning to for years), and the David Park will go on the wish list too. Like you, I’m not much of a saga fan, but the Nicola Kraus has a very attractive premise.
I loved the Moss and am so pleased you’re adding Park’s novel to your list. I’ve not yet read a dud fron Verve’s list so I have hopes for the Krauss.
I have Ripeness on my Kindle and should really get around to reading it soon – the problem is that I don’t ‘see’ them when they are on my Kindle and so often leave them till very much later.
Easily done! If it’s any encouragement, it’ll be on my books of the year list.
A new Sarah Moss is always welcome! The Park is really appealing too.
She’s so good, isn’t she. Very pleased to see so much interest in Park on here today.
I’m looking forward to the Kehlmann, As you say, each book is different, and this one sounds interesting…
It’s impressive, isn’t it. You couldn’t get more different than Tyll and You Should Have Left.
Ooh Ghost Wedding looks good.
I’ve yet to read a book by David Park I haven’t enjoyed!
Oh my David Park has quite a publishing history for “us” to have NOT showered his works with attention. And I am looking for some Irish books this year, so that will do nicely, thank you (although not one is available to me locally, so ILL…here I come)!
Delighted to hear that, Marcie. I hope you manage to track some of his books down.