That Reminds Me by Derek Owusu is published in hardback by #Merky Books, priced £12.99 (ebook £7.99)
A VIRTUOSIC debut by a raw new talent. That Reminds Me tells the story of K, a British-Ghanaian boy whose turbulent childhood spent passing through foster homes, leaves him battling with a budding neurosis. K's life is revealed in fragments - through hypnotic verse we experience the families he's loved and left behind, his first sexual encounters, spiritual doubts and feel with ever increasing urgency, the harrowing weight of his own faltering identity. An honest and timely evaluation of a black man's struggle to belong and later come to terms with failing mental health. Utterly convincing and deeply sad, Owusu's storytelling will bring readers to tears.
9/10
Scarlett Sangster
A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum is published in paperback by HQ, priced £8.99 (ebook £3.99)
IN DECEMBER 2001 I travelled to the West Bank at the invitation of the cultural arm of the Palestine Liberation Organization. There, despite the military incursions, I met highly educated Palestinian women doing their best to run arts centres, galleries, dance companies and theatres; and hijab-wearing girls from Birzeit University who weren't in the mood to take crap from anyone. This three-generation mini-doorstopper of a novel is not about those sort of Palestinian women, but about the silent, undervalued, dutiful daughters that can be found right across the Arab world. Set mostly amongst the Palestinian community in Brooklyn, New York, it tells of the submissive Isra and her struggle to be loved. What she gets instead is pregnancies and violence. It's a solid effort full of rich detail, convincing characterisation and genuinely startling reveals. But Rum betrays her inexperience as a novelist in the way she handles some elements of the plot.
7/10
Liz Ryan
Chances Are by Richard Russo is published in hardback by Allen & Unwin, priced £15.99 (ebook £8.99)
PULITZER Prize-winning author Russo's long term themes are male friendships, parents and children, love and small-town life. Chances Are still has all these woven through it, but also at the heart of the story is a mystery about the disappearance of a girl that three friends were all secretly, and not so secretly, in love with. The three friends meet up together for the first time since a weekend away in Martha's Vineyard just after they graduated, when Jacy took off to never be heard from again. Russo is concerned with fate, fortune and men treating women better. But we never see Jacy in the round, just through the eyes of the men. Each chapter is told from the viewpoint of one of them and flashes backwards and forwards in time, providing different perspectives on the impact of past events on the present. Just like his characters in Nobody's Fool and Empire Falls, no one can articulate what they feel to anyone who matters. But Russo writes them in such a humane way, you can forgive their foibles.
7/10
Bridie Pritchard
Delayed Rays Of A Star by Amanda Lee Koe is published in hardback by Bloomsbury, priced £16.99 (ebook £5.78)
SPARKED by a photo of three pioneering cinematic women – Marlene Dietrich, Anna May Wong and Leni Riefenstahl – captured at a party in Berlin in 1928, Delayed Rays Of A Star explores their lives and legacies to illuminate the world-changing events of the following decades. Bisexual glamourpuss Dietrich becomes one of the biggest Hollywood stars of her era but is reviled by some on her return to her German homeland for entertaining US troops; Wong is known as the first female Asian-American star but feels sidelined into playing stereotypes; and Riefenstahl's status as the first female filmmaker is tainted by her Nazi propaganda productions. This debut novel by Singaporean-American Amanda Lee Koe, a former Esquire Singapore fiction editor, exposes the grubbiness behind the glamour of the acting world and deftly uses more ordinary mortals - particularly a trafficked Chinese worker – as a counterpoint to explore the shifting sands of identity, performance and womanhood.
6/10
Laura Paterson
CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK
Sofia Valdez, Future Prez by Andrea Beaty, illustrated by David Roberts is published in hardback by Abrams Books For Young Readers, priced £12.99 (ebook £8.03)
THE latest instalment from the team behind the Ada Twist, Scientist and Rosie Revere, Engineer books sees the inspirational Sofia Valdez take centre stage with an empowering story of courage and determination. Little Sofia helps out around her Mexican-American community with her Abuelo, or grandpa, always putting others before herself. Every morning, Abuelo takes her to school, until one day he hurts his ankle tripping over at the local landfill. Sofia decides to do something about the dangerous site and gets her neighbours involved in brainstorming ideas to turn it into a new park. She takes her plans to the City Hall, but when she is told she cannot build a park because she is just a kid, Sofia must be brave and stand up for what she believes in. With visual nods to strong women throughout – like activist and journalist Ida B Wells and artist Frida Kahlo – author Andrea Beaty's rhyming story is perfect for showing younger readers what can be achieved by anyone when they put their mind to it.
9/10
Holly Williams
YOUNG ADULT BOOK OF THE WEEK
Unpregnant by Jenni Hendriks and Ted Caplan is published in paperback by Chicken House, priced £7.99 (ebook £5.46)
UNPREGNANT charts perfect-student Veronica's disastrous relationship breakdown and subsequent journey to an abortion clinic with her ex-best-friend Bailey. With a breezy back-blurb promise of "stolen cars, crazed ex-boyfriends, aliens", you'd be forgiven for thinking this coming-of-age teen-angst road trip deserves a wide swerve. However, the novel quickly unfolds into a poignant but hilarious journey through far more relatable terrain – the uncertainty of futures, the struggle to become one's own person and, of course, what it takes to be a good friend. Some might find the authors' handling of abortion controversially light-hearted, but clearly the aim is to prompt thoughtful discussions on topics, including religion and sexuality, that remain taboo. Difficult subjects unfold from the characters' perspectives, rather than feeling shoehorned into a narrative. With generous humour and a punchy pace, Unpregnant is a thoroughly compulsive and insightful read.
7/10
Nicole Whitton
NON-FICTION
How To Be More Tree is published in hardback by LOM Art, priced £9.99 (ebook £4.99)
PART self-help guide, part tree encyclopaedia, part botanical art portfolio, How To Be More Tree distils 400 million years of trees into 60 'life lessons'. With a tongue-in-cheek tone – "If something is getting under your bark [you might] just need reminding to enjoy the feeling of the sun on your foliage" – each tree is represented by an illustration and a short story of its superpower. Annie Davidson's illustrations are beautifully drawn, with a mixture of colour and monochrome, but they're set in so much white space they feel isolated - more like a series of individual botanical art sketches, rather than bringing the stories to life. The diversity of trees around the world offers up some interesting facts, but the tenuous 'life lessons' are often perplexing; "So, like the yew, go slow, and feel free to be slightly mysterious." How To Be More Tree is certainly a celebration of all things tree, but it doesn't branch out enough to deliver perennial happiness.
5/10
Rebecca Wilcock
