Books to Look Out For in March 2025: Part Two

By / Previews / / 28 Comments

Cover image for Theft by Abdulrazak GurnahBack from Stockholm (more of which later in the week) with March’s second batch of new fiction. I’ve already read Theft, Abdulrazak Gurnah’s first novel since winning the 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature. Described as ‘one of the world’s most prominent postcolonial writers’ by the chairman of the Nobel committee, Gurnah continues to explore that theme through three young people in 1990s Zanzibar whose lives become closely intertwined: bright, ambitious Karim, who falls in love with Fauzia, and forms a friendship with Badar, a servant in his stepfather’s household with an oddly ambiguous position. Themes of family and obligation underpin the narrative with postcolonial Zanzibar providing the backdrop, now a destination for tourists with its beautiful archipelago. From its title onwards, Theft is a subtle, many-layered piece of fiction which offers a great deal to think about. Review to follow… Cover image for Sleeping Children by Anthony Passeron

There have been many novels written about the AIDS pandemic but I think Anthony Passeron’s autofiction, Sleeping Children, is the first French one I’ve come across. In 1981, a Parisian doctor is presented with a case of what will come to be known as HIV/AIDS while in rural France another epidemic grips a small village as young people succumb to heroin addiction, one of whom is Passeron’s uncle. These two narratives become interwoven as more is learnt about this frightening new virus and how it is passed on. ‘Sleeping Children is a moving and eye-opening book about shame and the slow poisoning of a family by the secrets it keeps. Exploring the stories of the heroic few who fought for a cure for AIDs and for justice for a community abandoned, it is a radical vision of a history reshaped, retold and remembered’ says the blurb of a book which sounds well worth investigating.

Cover image for A Language of Limbs by Dylinn Hardcastle Opening in 1972, Dylin Hardcastle’s A Language of Limbs follows two teenage girls, who must decide whether to explore their sexuality or supress it, over three decades spanning Australia’s first Mardi Gras and the AIDS pandemic. ‘A Language of Limbs is about love and how it’s policed, friendship and how it transcends, and hilarity in the face of heartbreak. A celebration of queer life in all its vibrancy and colour, this story finds the humanity in all of us and demands we claim our futures for ourselves’ says the blurb. This one’s from Verve Books from whose list I read several gems last year.

I didn’t get around to Sophie Haydock’s The Flames about Egon Schiele’s muses, probably because I’m not very keen on his Covedr image for Madame Matisse by Sophie Haydock work, although that didn’t stop me enjoying Naomi Wood’s Mrs Hemingway. Haydock’s new novel, Madame Matisse, does something similar with another artist, exploring the lives of Matisse’s daughter, his wife of nearly forty years and an orphan who fled Russia after the death of her mother. ‘Based on a true story, Madame Matisse is a stunning novel about drama and betrayal; emotion and sex; glamour and tragedy, all set in the hotbed of the 1930s art movement in France. In art, as in life, this a time when the rules were made to be broken…’ according to the blurb which makes me feel a little lukewarm but certainly interested enough to give it a try.

Coiver image for I Hear You by Paul McVeigh It’s the ten-part sequence set around Cliftonville Circus where five roads meet in North Belfast, that attracts me to Paul McVeigh’s short story collection, I Hear You, written specifically for BBC Radio 4. The location is a stone’s throw away from the Ardoyne, where McVeigh grew up, an area often at the centre of the Troubles. ‘Each road leads to a different area – a different class – a different religion. The Circus explores where old Belfast clashes with the new around acceptance, change, class and diversity. But this is 2024 and a fresh energy exists’ says the blurb of what sounds like an interesting collection which includes several other stories besides The Circus.

That’s it for March’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…

Discover more from A Life in Books

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

28 thoughts on “Books to Look Out For in March 2025: Part Two”

  1. Claire 'Word by Word'

    Some promising new titles here that I look forward to your reviews on. I have Abdulrazak Gurnah’s By the Sea on my shelf. I really enjoyed Admiring Silence, the humorous undertones and clever way he has of depicting characters who dig themselves deeper into complications setting the novel up for its reveal, thought provoking and entertaining.
    I Hear You sounds excellent too, it reminds me of Donal Ryan’s Heart, be at peace, that delving into local areas the author’s grew up in.

    Reply
  2. margaret21

    I’ve reserved the ones comimg into our library service: the Abdulrazak Gurnah and the Sophie Haydock, though I’m going to be on the look-out for the Anthony Passeron (Perhaps I’ll be brave and try it in French, which I’m quite lazy about reading) and the Paul McVeigh. This looks a good little haul. Looking forward to hearing about Stockholm. I’m sorry Sweden is missing from my haul of travel destinations.

    Reply
  4. janakay

    An interesting list! For me, particularly, Haydock’s Madame Matisse stands out. Aside from liking novels featuring artists, it arrives just as I’ve read a few articles on an upcoming exhibition at Paris’ Musée d’Art Moderne that feature Matisse’s paintings of his daughter Marguerite, one of his favorite models. (if you’re interested, the Feb 8, 2025 Guardian has one of the articles)

    Reply
  7. lmmhearne

    More new writers to explore. Although I am familiar with Paul McVeigh. Very energetic and entertaining writer. A regular visitor to Listowel Writers Week.

    Reply
  8. Marcie McCauley

    I had meant to read Afterlives (Gurnah) at the end of last year, but its arrival from the library didn’t suit the concurrent reads. Theft sounds very good too. I’m not sure what I think about a collection of stories written with radio in mind? But I suppose there have always been commissions…since when did I get so suspicious?! heh

    Reply
  10. Litlove

    I’ve had The Flames by Sophie Haydock to read on Kindle for ages and haven’t yet got around to it either. I’m not keen on Egon Schiele either, but I rather think it’s the fact of having too many unread books that’s got in the way! But despite that, I do like the sound of Madame Matisse. The art world is having a moment in fiction, it feels. I’m up for that!

    Reply
  11. MarinaSofia

    The first two are the most instantly attractive to me. And I know Schiele is a hard sell – I hated him as a child, especially when compared to Klimt, but I’ve started appreciating his work more in recent years.

    Reply

Leave a comment ...

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.