Issa Quincy’s Absence follows a man haunted by the poem his mother read to him as a child, resonating throughout the many stories of those he encounters, from the beloved schoolteacher whose death reveals a dark secret to the woman whose son will never return, a young man whose letters from his aunt offer comfort in his isolation to a family photograph hinting at tragedy. ‘With fierce imagination, Issa Quincy has constructed a transcendent portrait of humanity, deftly illuminating a symphony of memories, murmurs and phantoms that add up to an ordinary human life’ says the blurb which sounds intriguing.
October’s paperback short story collection, Pulse, comes from Cyan Jones whose work I’ve been meaning to read for some time. Not a huge amount to go on from the blurb which tells us that ‘fear, vulnerability, tension and resolve course through these arresting and indelible stories from one of the finest British writers at work today’. Enough there to make me want to read it.
That’s it for October. 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. New fiction is here and here.
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I turned to the Guardian reviews as well as yours to decide on TBR placements. Bog Queen hasn’t made the cut. Though well reviewed, I’m not sure about the Turpeinen either. It sounds a little ‘preachy’. Absence sounds intriguing indeed, but – bother! the library hasn’t got it. Nor Pulse, though I’m interested ….
Pulse is a definite for me although who knows when, and Absence, too.
Bog bodies really are having a moment! I like the sound of Absence and I too have been meaning to read Cynan Jones for ages!
Aren’t they, although she’d have to do extraordinarily well to better Sheila Armstrong’s The Red Mouth for me.
If the Cynan Jones short stories are anything like The Dig, they’ll be superb – but tough reads subject-wise! Love the cover of Bog Queen – but not totally tempted by it.
Thanks for the encouragement and warning, Annabel! I suspect I’ll give Bog Queen a miss.
I’ve enjoyed Cynan Jones previously so Pulse is very tempting!
It would be my first by him but I’ve been meaning to get to him for some time.
I’d not come across Beasts of the Sea but it’s now on my wishlist. The blurb on Goodreads describes it as ‘in the spirit of Daniel Mason’ which is catnip for me.
Hope you enjoy it, Cathy. It’s a little outside my usual reading but I like the sound of the premise.
I read Bog Queen shortly after it was published and enjoyed it, in a mild kind of way. I think I was traveling at the time and it was perfect choice for some rather tedious down time!
I’m currently travelling and reading books I suspect wouldn’t stand up so well if they had my entire attention. Useful to have a few of those on hand!