Unsurprisingly, given that publishers have Christmas in their sights come September, a couple of the month’s titles struck me as on their way to the 
bestseller lists including the first which I’ve already read.
The Two Roberts grew out of a fascination with Robert MacBryde and Robert Colquhoun after Damian Barr spotted a social media post during lockdown. Working class Scottish artists who met on their first day at the Glasgow School of Art in 1933, they fell in love at a time when homosexuality was illegal. Both were immensely talented, standing out from their privileged peers, catching the eye of their tutor. Their careers saw them feted by rich patrons, their work bought by New York’s MOMA, then poverty stricken and homeless, eventually sinking into obscurity, all the time loving each other, fighting, drinking and working ceaselessly. I loved this gorgeous, immersive love story which introduced me to two artists whose work in their heyday was compared to Braque and Picasso. Review soon…
Kiran Desai’s The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny is her first since she won the Booker for The Inheritance of Loss back in 2006 and has just been longlisted for this year’s prize. Not much to go on from the blurb but it does include a quote from the author: ‘Using the comic lens of an endlessly unresolved romance between two modern Indians, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny examines Western and Eastern notions and manifestations of love and solitude as they play out across the geographical and emotional terrain of today’s globalized world. I think only a novel can get at the raw truth regarding what people are privately thinking and negotiating’. I’m expecting lots of brouhaha around this one.
In Tina Makereti’s The Mires three women, who gave birth in different countries and different decades, are neighbours sometime in the near future in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Keri, her four-year-old and her teenage daughter, Wairere, live next door to Janet, an opinionated white woman, and Sera, whose family is fleeing Europe’s ecological catastrophe. When Janet’s extremist son arrives, freshly tattooed with a buzz cut, only Wairere understands the danger he poses. I like the sound of that and there’s a refreshing lack of hype in the blurb.
I was a big fan of Oyinkan Braithwaite’s debut, My Sister the Serial Killer, but somehow missed her second novel. Her third, Cursed Daughters, sees Eniiyi struggling to deal with her family’s insistence that she’s the reincarnation of her aunt thanks to her uncanny resemblance to Monife. Now, having fallen in love, she’s face with the curse handed down through generations proclaiming that no man will call their house his home. ‘Is she destined to live out the habitual story of love and heartbreak, or can she escape the family curse and the mysterious fate that befell her aunt?’ asks the blurb.
That’s it for September’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…
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The Braithwaite goes straight on the list! I didn’t know she’d written another in between either.
Laura tells me it was a Quickread which is probably why neither of us registered it.
Braithwaite’s second novel is one of the Quick Reads series… so I would probably see this one as her true second. I had mixed feelings about My Sister… so I didn’t request this from NG, but will maybe check it out in time. The Mires sounds appealing.
That explains why I missed it. I like the sound of The Mires. I’m impressed by the lack of publisher hype too.
Thanks for the introduction to Buckeye; I’ll give it a go. I’ve meant to try Damian Barr’s fiction so perhaps this is the one for me. I’ll look out for my library ordering it.
I’d highly recommend both of those. This was the first of his I’ve read.
Nice round up! I’ve seen so much discourse about the lack of men writing novels lately, I was surprised to see two novels by men 🙂 All sound great.
Thank you. Both excellent, too!
I really fancy the Damian Barr book. I’m going to his event at our local bookshop in September.
Oh, that’s great! I loved it, as I’m sure you’ve gathered. It was on my Booker wishlist.
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny sounds interesting, but 700 pages! I think I’ll wait and see what reviewers think before I plunge in.
Exactly!
I have the Desai as I was excited to see it but of course on NetGalley and I’ve only recently seen photos that reveal it as the behemoth it is! So we shall see if I get through it!
I’ve been caught out like that with NetGalley, Good luck! I’m sure it will be worth it.
The Two Roberts sounds really moving. I’m looking forward to your review!
I had hopes for that for the Booker longlist. Certainly one of my books of this year.
I’m curious about the Kiran Desai, because it’s been such a long time. I loved The Inheritance of Loss, but this one sounds quite different.
It does, and so long. I’m not sure I’ll get around to it.