The 5 Fiction Titles Everyone Is Talking About
With summer approaching you may be looking for the perfect story to lose yourself in on holiday, or simply a new title to inspire your weekly book club. We’ve rounded up the five must-reads that you’ll want to escape with this season.
My Year of Rest and Relaxation, by Ottessa Moshfegh
It’s the year 2000 in a city aglitter with wealth and possibility; what could be so wrong? A recent Columbia graduate – who is beautiful, young and successful – lives in a Manhattan apartment, paid for by her inheritance. But there is a vacuum at the heart of things. Fuelled by an unscrupulous psychiatrist – a wonderfully grotesque figure – she begins a regimented programme of hibernation; induced by narcotics and aided by an avant-garde artist chronicling her descent into self-created somnolence.
My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a showcase for the gifts of one of America’s major young writers.
There There, by Tommy Orange
Jacquie Red Feather is newly sober and hoping to reconnect with her estranged family. That’s why she is there. Dene has been collecting stories to honour his uncle’s death, while Edwin is looking for his true father and Opal came to watch her boy Orvil dance. All of them are connected by bonds they may not yet understand.
There There is a wondrous and shattering portrait of an America few of us have ever seen and it is destined to be a classic. It grapples with a complex and painful history, with an inheritance of beauty and spirituality, alongside a plague of addiction, abuse, and suicide.
The Porpoise, by Mark Haddon
A newborn baby is the sole survivor of a terrifying plane crash. She is raised in wealthy isolation by an overprotective father. She knows nothing of the rumours about a beautiful young woman, hidden from the world. When a suitor visits, he understands far more than he should. Forced to run for his life, he escapes aboard The Porpoise, with an assassin on his tail. So begins a wild adventure of a novel, damp with salt spray, blood and tears.
As profound as it is entertaining, The Porpoise is a major literary achievement by an author whose myriad talents are on full display.
The Parisian, by Isabella Hammad
During the First World War, young Palestinian dreamer Midhat Kamal picks his way across a fractured Paris where quickly he discovers that everything is fragile: love turns to loss, friends become enemies and everyone is looking for a place to belong.
An intensely human story amidst a global conflict, The Parisian is historical fiction with a remarkable contemporary voice.
Clock Dance, by Anne Tyler
Willa Drake can count on one hand the defining moments of her life. So when she receives a phone call telling her that her son’s ex-girlfriend has been shot and needs her help, she drops everything and flies across the country. Surrounded by new and surprising neighbours, she finds community, and takes pleasure in the most unexpected things.
A bittersweet novel of hope, Clock Dance brings us the everyday life of a woman who decides it’s never too late to change direction.
