The first instalment of April’s preview begins with two I’ve already read. Divided into three parts, Ben Lerner’s Transcription follows an unnamed narrator who knocks his phone into a filled washbasin while preparing to interview his mentor, the father of Max, his best friend. Setting off fretfully to Thomas’s house, he finds him disconcertingly altered. When he prefaces a conference keynote speech with the phone anecdote, he’s reproached for his dishonesty in publishing the interview. In the third episode, Max talks to our narrator about his difficulties with Thomas and the anxiety of raising a daughter in a changing world. Lerner is the same age as our narrator, sharing his love of Madrid, suggesting a degree of autofiction that typifies his previous work, but this felt much more personal, a working out of ideas. Review soon…
Ia Genberg’s The Details was one of 2023’s standout reads for me. Published for the first time in English and longlisted for this year’s International Booker, Small Comfort is an earlier novel which reads like a set of short stories, linked by the theme of money and its all-pervasive influence, from the opening interview of an ex-child movie star turned thief to an actor commissioned to give a speech at a wealthy man’s wedding revealing the groom’s appalling behaviour, behaviour a PhD student researching the link between wealth and empathy would find entirely believable. An entertaining, thought-provoking piece of fiction, not quite as impressive as The Details but certainly enough for me to hope more of Genberg’s work will be translated. Review shortly…
It’s almost a decade since I read Gwendoline Riley’s First Love, an unsettling read which I admired rather than loved. The Palm House follows Laura and Edmund old friends who’ve debated everything under the sun for years. After the loss of his father, exacerbated by problems at work, Edmund begins to slip into a depression from which, beset by her own problems, Laura tries to rescue him. ‘A novel of enduring friendships and small mercies, The Palm House offers us Gwendoline Riley’s trademark keen observation and wit and leaves us – somehow – with a curious sense of possibility’ says the blurb promisingly.
I’m not at all sure about Caro Claire Burke’s much hyped debut, Yesteryear, which explores tradwife territory through Natalie, apparently happy and fulfilled living with her handsome cowboy husband and beautiful children in a delightful farmhouse according to her social media accounts. One morning she wakes up to find that her carefully curated life, helped along by an army of help, is off kilter in a way she can’t explain. Hmm… we’ll see.
Lots of starry praise from the likes of Megan Hunter and Colin Walsh for Jon Doyle’s debut, Communion, set in Port Talbot to which Mack has returned from a decade in a seminary without being ordained. Taking a job at the steelworks as a security guard, he finds himself involved in a working community he’d turned his back on, supporting the steel workers’ strike against job cuts. One day, a woman whose confession he’d heard at the seminary arrives. As tensions escalate, Mack begins to wonder if keeping her secret is the right thing to do. An interesting setup which sounds worth investigating.
The narrator of Deborah Levy’s My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein wants to solve the puzzle of the enigmatic cultural
I’ve still not got beyond the first of Solvej Balle’s seven-novella series but Brona at Reading Life is so enthusiastic I’m determined to press ahead this year. In On The Calculation of Volume IV, Tara Selter is still repeatedly living through November 18th but within a community of others also searching for answers to the meaning of their experience. If you want to know more, I’d recommend a visit to Brona’s blog where you’ll find reviews for the first three.
That’s it for April’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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Brona got me into The Calculation of Volume series, too!
She’s very persuasive! I finally bought the second in the series today.
I’m really looking forward to the Gwendoline Riley (I’ve loved her previous work) and Yesteryear sounds like it could be interesting.
The Riley does sound promising, doesn’t it. I’m going to wait and see with Yesteryear.
Oh you have made my Monday morning with the prospect of a new book from Levy. I see it’s due out in April. Will be searching it out. Not sure about any of the others listed here. I just finished Perfection, an interesting read and I am still debating it’s merits. Starting Lea Ypi’s new book Indignity. Loved her previous book Free.
My pleasure, Lucy! I enjoyed Perfection but have never come across Ypi. Indignity sounds fascinating.
It’s very good. Would recommend reading Free first to get the broader context of Indignity story.
Thank you. I’ll add it to my list.
Looking forward to the Levy as well, this could be my introduction to her writing!
I didn’t get on very well with Hot Milk but this one sounds very promising.
Thanks so much for including Communion in such great company, Susan. Means a lot!
My pleasure, Jon. Looking forward to reading your book.
I really enjoy Levy so that one is a must-read!
I can’t believe it’s a decade since First Love, where does the time go…?
A constant refrain in my head! Fingers crossed for the Levy.
I managed to get my hands on the Gwendoline Riley – can’t wait! Also I have Yesteryear on order. I can resist the rest – I’ve not managed to get on with Lerner so far in particular.
I’ll be interested to see what you make of Yesteryear. As ever, it’s the hype that puts me off. Hope you enjoy the Riley!
I’m really intrigued by Communion. Ben Lerner’s books always sound absolutely dire but I’ve read all his others and found them super rewarding (if a bit forgettable?), so I’m sure I’ll be getting round to Transcription at some point. As for Gwendoline Riley, she’s a superb writer but I’m not sure I have the appetite for more misery after First Love and My Phantoms…
I was touched that the author thanked me for including Communion which does sound a little different. I’ve enjoyed some but not all of Lerner’s fiction – Transcription hit the spot, though. I avoided My Phantoms having found First Love harrowing but I’m quite tempted by her new one.
I’ll be reading Transcription soon. I’m keen on the Levy and I would be willing to give the Burke a try. I’d like to jump on the Balle bandwagon, but only if my library would hurry up and buy the first three books!
It’s taken me some time but I’ve finally bought the second instalment. I’m not a huge Levy fan but I do like the look of this one.
Looking forward to reading Communion in the next couple of weeks – perfect timing for Reading Wales month!
I know! I’ll be interested to see what you think of it.
I just added the Riley from a catalogue yesterday: the publisher does make it sound very appealing. Lerner’s also looks good (and short, but maybe not quick?) and I am hoping to delve into more Levy this summer (having only read the one with the pool on the cover). Nice to see the spring arrivals, eh? (Even though I love the snow, and winter.)
I found First Love gruelling but this one sounds less so. The Lerner does make you think! I’m glad you enjoy winter, Marcie. It’s a good thing to love where you live. We had our first real spring day today. I saw a tottering lamb that couldn’t have been more than an hour or two old.