Come My Fanatics by Dan Franklin
Take a peek behind the black silken veil of The Wizard in Dan Franklin’s biography of Dorset’s doom pioneers. Starting with the band’s inception in 1993, Franklin takes us through the band’s hazy history of excess, success, failure, self-sabotage and ultimate immortality as one of Britain’s most heralded underground bands.
Come My Fanatics is a delectable treat for fans of the weird, wonderful world of cult metal music, and the media which inspired that movement. – Tom B
Scaffolding by Lauren Elkin
Anna is a psychoanalyst recovering from a miscarriage in her Paris apartment. Her husband, David, is working in London, and she is still signed off work. With a lot of time on her hands, she strikes up a friendship with Clémentine, a young free spirit involved in the mysterious activist scene taking the city by storm.
50 years ago, in the very same apartment, Florence is finishing her psychology degree while she and her husband Henry renovate their kitchen and plot out the rest of their lives.
This super-smart novel of two couples, decades apart, who face challenges both similar and so different, reads like a classy cousin to Miranda July’s All Fours. Sexy, intelligent, and ever so French, it is a very fine debut for readers of Deborah Levy. – Tom M
Among Friends by Hal Ebbott
An absolutely exquisite novel with some of the most sublime writing I’ve come across in some time. I was lucky enough to read an early copy of this back in March and it has remained my favourite book of 2025 since. I’ve waited patiently since then to share it with you, so I’m really excited that it’s now out in the world and I get to tell you all how superb it is!
Among Friends follows Emerson and Amos, who have been friends for over thirty years. Their wives are friends, their daughters grew up together. They want for nothing, languishing in their New York City wealth. But when the two families meet over one weekend to celebrate Emerson’s birthday, a shocking act is committed that forces them to question the foundations of their relationships with each other. As they wonder if they ever really knew each other at all, they are faced with the decision of whether any of it is really worth upending their entire lives for.
With its edge-of-the-seat plot, it’s the kind of novel that you’re desperate to discuss with someone, but it’s Ebbott’s writing that is the star of the show here. With short, concise prose, each sentence feels crafted and honed to perfection, exposing an uncomfortable and raw honesty in a way I haven’t read since Elizabeth Strout. Among Friends is perfect for fans of Donna Tartt, Hanya Yanagihara, and John Irving. Hal Ebbott is a writer worth getting excited about, and I have no doubt he’s going to be one to look out for in years to come – I know I will be. – Emma