The second part of February’s paperback preview kicks off with an unusual choice for me. Jon Hickey’s debut, Big Chief, is set on the fictional Passage Rouge Indian Reservation in northern Wisconsin in the run up to a crucial election for Mitch Caddo and his best friend Tribal President Mack Beck who run the Reservation’s government including the profitable Golden Eagle Casino and Hotel. When a national politician gets involved, things get dirty, relations made more fraught given that her aide is Mack’s sister and Mitch’s ex. ‘Thrilling and timely, Big Chief is an unforgettable story about the search for belonging—to an ancestral and spiritual home, to a family, and to a sovereign people at a moment of great historical importance’ according to the blurb. It’s the setting that attracts me to this one.
I loved Virginia Feito’s deliciously dark Mrs March, one of my 2021 favourites. Victorian Psycho sounds even more gothic. 
Elaine Garvey’s The Wardrobe Department follows Mairéad who works in a rundown West End theatre in the early 2000s, dodging groping hands and a bullying producer while learning her trade. She finds herself torn between building a new urban life and a nostalgia for her rural Irish home. ‘Told with rare honesty and equal measures of warmth and bite, The Wardrobe Department is a story about reckoning with the past, finding the courage to change the present – and asking what comes next’ says the blurb whetting my appetite as does Cathy’s review at 746 Books. You can read it here.
Loss, anger, grief and disappointment run through the six stories that make up Northern Irish writer Liadan Ní Chuinn’s powerful debut collection, Every One Still Here, several of which are linked by the legacy of the Troubles. Intergenerational trauma is explored through visceral memories of a father’s decline interwoven with his son’s questioning of the past while a young man is faced with his cousin’s fury when he raises their family’s experience and its effects on both them and their parents. Difficult to read, at times, this is a striking collection, thoroughly deserving of the praise heaped upon it by the likes of Wendy Erskine and Louise Kennedy.
That’s it for February. 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 part one it’s here. New fiction is here and here.
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Thanks for the link for Victorian Psycho. It was simply brilliant! The two Irish novels you’ve picked are both going on my want list!
Very much looking forward to it! Which two?
The 2 novels, not the short stories.
Ah, I missed that in your first comment!
I’ve been wanting to read Ordinary Saints for ages – the first line is excellent.
It’s an interesting premise for sure.
I thought Ordinary Saints was utterly excellent, so am very pleased you’re spotlighting its paperback release. Such a fascinating and unusual premise, dealt with very thoughtfully.
That’s great to hear! The hint that there are parallels with her own life makes it even more intriguing.
Two of my favourites from last year on your list. I adored Victorian Psycho – it was such delicious fun – and Everyone Still Here marked a real talent to watch.
Looking forward to the Feito, and I agree about Every One Still Here.
Some interesting books. I remember Garvey from your previous review. Haven’t read it yet. I like native American Indian writers including Erdrich and Orange. Is the author here a native writer?
Yes, I believe he is. I’m looking forward to the Garvey. An unusual setting.
The Feito is delightful, but maybe not for you if you’re squeamish? I’m in the early pages of Ordinary Saints, which I was given for Christmas.
Hmm… Thanks for the warning. Is it a few skippable few passages? I’ll be interested to hear what you think of Ordinary Saints.
Hmm, more like gruesome imaginings and happenings throughout.
I so enjoyed Mrs March perhaps I’ll steel myself!
I quite liked Big Chief (I wrote about it briefly at the bottom of this post). He integrates relationships into his storytelling in such a way that the story feels more compelling than that sort of story sometimes feels (although, like you, I’ve nothing against those slower stories either): it made me very curious about what he’ll write next, but not because there’s anything unrealised in this one, just because I think he’s very good. The other four sound very good too, although it’s the last which most appeals to my current reading mood.
Thanks for that, Marcie. You’ve moved him up my list! Heartily recommend Every One Still Here. A very promising young writer.
Just finished Victorian Psycho. It’s completely over the top and bonkers in many ways but hard to put down.
I’ll be heeding Rebecca’s warning to the squeamish but it sounds unmissable. Mrs March was a book of the year for me.
Looking forward to the Feito. The Wardrobe Department also looks good.
The Wardrobe Department is working its way through my tbr.
I’d forgotten about The Wardrobe Department and it looks so tempting – thank you for the reminder!
You’re welcome! It does look good, doesn’t it.