I’ve yet to read anything from this second instalment of June fiction which begins with the one I’m most interested in. Inspired by real events, Heather Clark’s The Scrapbook opens in Harvard in 1996 where Anna meets and falls in love with a German student just before graduation. Visiting Christoph at his home in Germany, she tries to understand him and his country still dealing with its part in the Second World War and the horror of the Holocaust. While longing to believe in the future he promises, Anna becomes increasingly unsettled by the implications of that history. Very much like the sound of that.
It’s the setting of Shokoofeh Azar’s The Gowkaran Tree in the Middle of Our Kitchen that attracts me. Spanning fifty years in the history of modern Iran, it tells the stories of twelve lost children. ‘In Azar’s new novel, each lost child’s story unfolds against the backdrop of immense cultural and political transformation; lovers must survive war, revolution, and rigid social strictures to keep their love alive; family bonds are tested, especially those indissoluble connections between the living and the dead’ says the blurb promisingly.
Frances Wise’s The Book Game seems to be aimed squarely at the book club market. A group of eight friends reunite at a weekend writing retreat in the Cambridgeshire countryside. Their days are spent reading and writing in the house’s beautiful grounds while they share drinks and dinner outdoors in the evenings, enjoying each other’s company. Someone, however, is up to no good. ‘As tensions rise over the seven days, desire and deceit rise to the surface and all their lives will change forever…’ says the blurb hinting at dark doings and perhaps betrayal. Sounds a bit like a potboiler but the bookish setting is hard to resist. 
Caryl Lewis’s Bitter Honey takes the form of eleven letters written to a widow by her bee-keeping author husband to whom she was married for fifty years. Each of the letters examines their long life together eventually revealing a secret that will make Hannah re-evaluate everything. ‘Bitter Honey is a novel which brings three very different women together into a broken Eden and examines how they rebuild it on their own terms’ according to the blurb. I’m far from sure about this one but I rarely seem to come across Welsh novelists.
June’s short story collection is D. J. Taylor’s Poppyland set in Norfolk where Taylor lives, a beautiful area but one that has economic challenges to face as the blurb suggests: ‘Most of the people in Poppyland are watching their lives begin to blur at the margins. From small-hours taxi offices, out-of-season holiday estates and flyblown market stalls, they sit observing an environment that seems to be moving steadily out of kilter, struggling to find agency, making compromises with a world that threatens to undermine them, and sometimes – but only sometimes – taking a decisive step that will change their destinies’. Keen to read this one
That’s it for June’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…
Like you, I’m liking the look of the Heather Clark. I hadn’t come across Shokoofeh Azar before, but now see that she’s cornering the market in Tree Related books. Interesting!
I hadn’t spotted that! The Clark’s very enticing, isn’t it.
I think so, yes.
Your first two choices and Poppyland are all very tempting! I hadn’t heard of any of the authors before.
I’ve had several happy holidays in Norfolk which is part of the attraction for me with Poppyland although that gorgeous cover also caught my eye.
All of these are new to me & several are quite tempting! I’m especially drawn to the setting of the book game, despite its potboiler aspects.
I’m sure I’ll read that. A well turned out potboiler’s not such a bad thing now and again!
I tried the Wise but I really struggled with it and DNF… I compared it to the kind of gently ironic bourgeois novels written by people like Amanda Craig or even Amanda Brookfield, so I guess it depends if that’s your speed. The Azar sounds good!
Hmm… I’ve not read Broomfield but quite enjoy Craig’s novels. I’m sure I’ll try the Azar both for its setting and premise.
The Gowkaran Tree in the Middle of Our Kitcgen does indeed appeal! Interesting that novels by Iranian writers are receiving attention and support just now.
Indeed! I think this is either the second or third I’ve mentioned in previews recently.
My dad’s a beekeeper so the honey one is appealing.
One of the most interesting small museums I’ve visited is the Museum of Apiculture in Slovenia. Fascinating!
These monthly guides are so great, Susan. Thank you. I’m particularly attracted to POPPYLAND, especially for its Norfolk setting after a holiday there a couple of years ago.
You’re welcome! I enjoy putting them together. I have very fond memories of Norfolk holidays.
Caryl Lewis is definitely on my to buy list – her first English language novel Drift was so beautifully written as befits her background as a poet
Ah I didn’t know she was a poet. That pushes her up my list.
Hah, doesn’t it frustrate you when you can see “bookclub book” written all over it and, yet, you still find the marketing wonder has dazzled you into wanting to read it anyway? hee hee
I’m a sucker for anything with a hint of the book world so I’m an easy target for this one.
The Scrapbook sounds promising. Heather Clark wrote a wonderful biography of Sylvia Plath, loved her writing style, so hope it will still shine in her fiction. Also intrigued by the Caryl Lewis, including Drift, which I see mentioned in the comments. I’ll have to shop for these in the UK, though; US publishers sadly haven’t picked them up. (Thanks for the great list!)
You’re welcome although I’m sorry to hear that neither title will be available in the States. Both look well worth reading.