Welcome to Insider Reading, where the booksellers of Mr B’s give you the lowdown on new and future releases. We are very lucky as booksellers to get to read books ahead of publication.
So here is a behind-the-scenes peek into what some of our booksellers are already raving about for the months ahead, and a few they can’t wait to get stuck into…
Liv may have been sampling the delights of Copenhagen this week, but it’s Emma Straub‘s cruise ship-set, boyband romance, American Fantasy (May 14th) that’s really helped get her into holiday mode. Liv says: “UNBELIEVABLY good fun. I gulped this book down poolside and barely came up for air (occasionally resurfacing for a sip of a Spritz or two – the ideal reading scenario). If you enjoyed Curtis Sittenfeld’s Romantic Comedy, or have any lingering fondness for boyband obsessions past, you need to get American Fantasy on your radar right now!
Tom M has discovered two short translated fiction gems this week – one from Sweden, and the other Japan. Here’s what he has to say on both:
“Don’t Laugh at Other People’s Sex Lives by Nao-Cola Yamazak (April 9th) was a really sweet and interesting take on inappropriate relationships. A young man is asked to pose for his painting teacher at her private studio. One thing leads to another and the their relationship turns first physical and then towards something like love. Filled with great characters and wonderful food writing, this prize-winning novella is a must for Hiromi Kawakami fans.
Event Horizon by Balsam Karam (April 23rd) follows Milde who lives in the Outskirts, a slum on the edge of an unnamed city, where food and resources are scarce and the downtrodden are forced into service of the wealthy. When Milde finally breaks and commits a shocking act of violence against her oppressors, she is forced first into exile, then into torture. Her only way of avoiding a public execution is to agree to man a crazy space mission into a black hole, where death and fragmentation await. A stupendously brilliant existential novel written with a poet’s grace and a furious heart.”
Spring may have (sort of) sprung, but Charlotte’s taken a dark turn into the gothic with a couple of upcoming novels:
“Kat Dunn revisits her gothic trademark in Rottenheart (June 4th) a spooky, sapphic retelling of Hamlet that’s unputdownable. Featuring untold secrets, forbidden love and ghostly apparitions, Rottenheart is perfect for fans of all things dark and sinister.
Themes of grief and madness coincide in Thornby Manor (April 23rd), a thrilling, Du Maurier-Esque debut from Stephanie Bramwell-Lawes. Desperately searching for her missing aunt, the newly-orphaned Briar Monroe takes refuge at Thornby Manor, located amongst the wilderness of the 1890s British countryside. But why has Lord Danville invited her there, and what other secrets does he keep?”
Sue is sporting her golden jumper in celebration of an upcoming novel certain to be a hit with many of our customers – The Golden Boy (April 16th) by Patricia Finn. Sue says: “Multimillionaire Stafford has retired to his luxury estate on Maui with wife Agnes. Yet the former Hollywood golden boy is bored and unhappy, trapped in his gilded cage. Until a letter arrives which forces him to confront secrets from his past and reinvent a future that will now include the four grandchildren of an old school friend. A redemptive tale in a gorgeous setting and full of messy characters trying to do their best. Moving, funny and entertaining, it’s perfect for fans of Frederik Backman and Amor Towles.”
On a recent work visit to the States, Nic settled down on the plane with some perfect reading material – Chasing Aliens (April 30th) by Orwell Prize-winner Daniel Lavelle, declaring it perfect for fans of Jon Ronson. Nic says: “a constantly eye-widening eyebrow-raising rampage through decades of alien
sightings, searchings, conspiracy and counter-conspiracy in which you watch Daniel Lavelle get in too deep with some credible (and many incredible) UFO junkies.”
As for me, I’ve been putting two titans of American literature, and two of my all-time favourite authors, head-to-head with their highly anticipated new books.
Is there any possible chance that Elizabeth Strout could write a more magnificent book than the likes of Olive Kitteridge, My Name is Lucy Barton, and Oh William!? Could we ever love a character more than Lucy and Olive? I’m here to tell you the unbelievable – The Things We Never Say (May 7th) is Strout’s best novel yet. And that’s not just coming from me, but three of us here on the team. Prepare to meet Artie Dam, a high school history teacher, who has a wife of three decades, and leads a good, happy life. But Artie is plagued by thoughts that make him think otherwise, and then one day he learns a secret that could rewrite his entire life, if he lets it. It’s a novel about the truths we keep hidden within ourselves, the things we can never bear to say out loud to another. It’s a novel about class, family, loneliness, purpose, grief, politics, and kindness, but above all, a celebration of the quiet lives lived. This is Strout at the absolute height of her powers, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.
It’s fair to say I was in quite the reading slump after The Things We Never Say, and then I spotted Whistler (June 2nd) by Ann Patchett, calling out from my bookcase – another of my favourite writers. I am currently just over half way through, and what a wonderful, joyous read this is! We follow Daphne, a woman in her fifties, who encounters a man following her whilst browsing the MET museum in NYC. It turns out to be Eddie, her step-father for one year when she was nine years old, a brief but very important relationship to them both. They both have many questions for one another, and spending these pages with them whilst they reconnect, is proving to be the loveliest of reading experiences, and I’m devouring every page. You’ll have to read the novel, to find out about the horse called Whistler though…
Thanks for reading!
Emma