June’s paperback publishing schedules are in a rather sorry state, thanks to the cuts and postponements brought about by Covid-19. I’m left with just four in my sights, the first of which I’ve already read. Emma Forrest’s Royals is about a working-class Jewish boy drawn into the orbit of a poor little rich girl, set against the backdrop of London caught up in royal wedding fever in 1981. Eighteen-year-old Steven’s violent father lands his son in hospital as he takes a punch for his mother. He wakes up to find himself alongside Jasmine, a fabulous creature who charms everyone with her dazzling attention, and the two instantly click. Forrest knows how to turn a striking phrase, telling her story with wit, humour and insight.
Since posting this, Emma Forrest has contacted me to let me know that, sadly, the paperback edition of Royals has been postponed until next summer. Apologies to anyone who was looking forward to bagging a copy. I dithered about deleting it but it’s such an enjoyable read I decided to leave it in for any eager ereader fans who should be able to buy a reasonably priced copy here.
Friendship – or the lack of it – crops up again in Jessica Francis Kane’s Rules for Visiting which sees a forty-year-old woman successful in her work but keeping family and neighbours at a distance. Feeling a lack in her life, she decides to set about rekindling old friendships. ‘May sets off on a journey to visit four neglected friends one-by-one, she holds herself (and them) to humorously high standards, while at home she begins to confront the pain of her past and imagine for herself a different kind of future. May’s quest becomes an exploration of the power, and perhaps limits, of modern friendship’ say the publishers which sounds very promising although that ‘humorously’ is a little worrying.
At first glance, Joanne Ramos’ The Farm apears some way outside my usual literary territory but it comes garlanded with praise from all and sundry including Sophie Mackintosh and Gary Shteyngart. A young Filipina immigrant hopes to improve her life and her child’s, taking a job at Golden Oaks a luxury fertility clinic run by an ambitious businesswoman who’s spotted a gap in the market. Described by the publishers as ‘a brilliant, darkly funny novel that explores the role of luck and merit, class, ambition and sacrifice, The Farm is an unforgettable story about how we live and who truly holds power’ which reminds me a little of David Bergen’s Stranger. It’s the dark humour and class theme that attracts me to this one.
Evan Fallenberg’s The Parting Gift comes billed as an ‘erotic tale of jealousy, obsession, and revenge suffused with the rich flavours and intoxicating scents of Israel’s Mediterranean coast’. The novel’s unnamed narrator tells the story of his all-consuming relationship with a man he met by chance on a visit to Israel and the sinister turn it takes as he becomes increasingly entangled in his lover’s life. Fallenberg’s style bears comparison to Patricia Highsmith’s work according to the publishers; an ambitious claim but it does sound worth investigating.
That’s it for June’s paperback preview. As ever a click on a title will take you either to my review or to a more detailed synopsis, and if you’d like to catch up with June’s new titles they’re here.
June is usually the month when publishers present us with a plethora of summer reading designed to keep us entertained by the pool, although there’s not much chance of that this year unless you have your own. Not my kind of novel, on the whole, but Rebecca Kauffman’s 
older lover spend three weeks in cottage in the Irish countryside. Six years later, recently married to another man, Alannah spots the cottage’s landlady triggering memories of bliss followed by utter misery. An interesting enough premise but it’s the quote that comes with the blurb that’s sold this one to me: I have taken apart every panel of this, like an ornamental fan. But we stayed in the cottage for three weeks only, just three weeks, because it was cut short you see – cut short after just three weeks, when I’d left my entire life behind. Hoping for some fine writing if that’s a sample.
Another starry name pops up in the blurb for my last June choice, this time in a quote from Alex Preston, the Observer critic, who compares Stuart Evers’ 
Just as May’s new title schedules suffered a wave of cuts and postponements so, too, have its paperback publications. I’ve read only one of those that have survived the chop, some of which look more enticing than others. I’ll begin with 
debut collection, 
Spare a thought for poor publishers who’ve been wrestling with the nightmare of rejigging their schedules to give their books the best possible exposure now that bookshops are shut thanks to the corona virus. Poor authors, too, left in limbo with all that nervous excitement at the prospect of the longed-for publication day now delayed. The result of all that is a much-depleted new title post, more like a December preview than May.
4’s excellent subtitled TV stream, and Pushkin Press, publishers of very fine foreign fiction. David Foenkinos’ 
some of that interest might have led to a few sales. This time I’ve included a few whose lists I like the look of but have not yet got around to exploring despite having my interest snagged by other bloggers’ reviews. Now’s my chance to put that right. At the time of writing, the ten publishers below are valiantly continuing to mail books to customers – some also sell ebooks. I’ve included links to them plus reviews, either on this blog or to recommendations from blogger pals.
appeared on last week’s list but I was a little confused by the message on their website and thought they were no longer mailing out books. It turns out they are but through the publishing section of the site.
awards including the Women’s Prize for Fiction, The Wellcome Book Prize, The Goldsmiths Prize and The Desmond Elliott Prize. Last year, Lucy Ellman’s doorstopper, Ducks, Newburyport, bagged them a place on the Booker Prize shortlist
call ‘forgotten fiction’ as well as some contemporary novels and non-fiction, and tell me they’re using their permitted one bout of exercise to bike orders to the local Post Office which will be including one from me, shortly.
who, at the time of writing, will mail books to you – some also sell ebooks – together with links both to them and to reviews of a few reviews of their titles on this blog. They’re all publishers with interesting lists to explore. I hope it goes without saying that I’ve nothing to gain financially from this post. Just trying to do what little I can to help some excellent publishers in extraordinarily difficult times.
non-fiction together with children’s and YA books.
from it has impressed me.
the UK publishers of the brilliant Percival Everett’s I Am Not Sidney Poitier which has me in tears of laughter last week. Review to follow soon.
Unlike the first part of April’s paperback preview, I’ve read none of the following six titles. I’ll begin with the one that tempts me most – Matias Faldbakken’s 
known. How will these six weather the challenges ahead? ‘Sad, shocking and often hilarious, it is an acutely observed novel of all our lives, set during what was for some a golden time – and for others a nightmare from which we are yet to wake up’ say the publishers. Apparently, this new novel sees the return of characters who first appeared in White City Blue, a novel I read but about which I can remember nothing.
prize – Jessica Andrews’ debut, 
This second instalment of potential April goodies begins with Kirstin Innes’ 
nail salon worker to a mother and daughter harvesting earthworms by night. ‘Uncannily and intimately observed, written with prose of exceptional precision, the stories in How to Pronounce Knife speak of modern location and dislocation, revealing lives lived in the embrace of isolation and severed history – but not without joy, humour, resilience, and constant wonder at the workings of the world’ promise the publishers of what sounds like an excellent set of short stories. That title, alone, is enough to make me want to read this one.
I first came across Dorthe Nors when I read her novella, 
I’m beginning to sound like a broken record, although in a good way, introducing yet another preview as full to bursting with potential goodies beginning with Anne Tyler’s
becomes a mirror for the struggles of society today’ according to the blurb.