BOOK OF THE WEEK
The Memory Wood by Sam Lloyd is published in hardback by Bantam Press, priced £12.99 (ebook £4.99)
FORGET everything you think you know about thrillers. The Memory Wood is a compulsive page-turner where visceral horror meets Grimm fairytale – a story that's guaranteed to burn itself into your brain. Oppressively intense and desperately dark, Sam Lloyd has imagined a psychological game of cat and mouse played out on a knife edge. Of the three rotating points of view, Elissa is determined she won't die at the hands of her abductor; Elijah is struggling to keep up with the real world; and Detective Superintendent Mairead MacCullagh is desperately trying to end the living nightmare of a child held captive. Each character is so fully realised through Lloyd's elegant writing that you instantly fall into a plot that's impossibly fraught. Every twist and distortion evokes a physical response – you'll be breathless with anticipation, tingling with hope, and numb with dread from beginning to end.
9/10
Rebecca Wilcock
The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates is published in hardback by Hamish Hamilton, priced £16.99 (ebook £9.99)
THE Water Dancer is celebrated journalist and author Ta-Nehisi Coates' debut novel, but although it is thoroughly plotted, and deftly handles the devastation of slavery, it often lacks pace and urgency. Hiram, the Tasked (enslaved) son of a slave master (the Quality) on a Virginia plantation called Lockless, has a gift for recollecting everything except for his mother – it's a skill that becomes invaluable when he's scooped up by those operating the Underground Railroad. Things however, get off to a slow start (despite a fatal plunge from a bridge), while Hiram's intriguing, supernatural ability to teleport and travel through time, takes too long to fully materialise. But when it does, things get much more interesting. Sensitively told, but sometimes sluggish, The Water Dancer feels important and highly crafted, but your attention may slip.
7/10
Ella Walker
NON-FICTION
Sex And Lies by Leila Slimani is published in paperback by Faber & Faber, priced £12.99 (ebook £7.99)
LEILA Slimani was a journalist covering Francophone Africa before gaining success in recent years as a taboo-breaking novelist. After her novel Lullaby, Slimani returned to reportage with this volume of interviews with women in her native Morocco, now translated into English. Moroccan law prohibits extramarital sex and homosexuality: Slimani focuses not on efforts to repeal this colonial-era legislation but rather on the social dissonance created when sex is ever-present but unmentionable. A central chapter is entitled, Society on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, while another highlights an incident in 2016 when police found two moralising politicians in flagrante in a parked car. Slimani does not preach, letting women of varied backgrounds tell their own varied stories and draw their own varied conclusions, and the sections in her own voice are incisive but measured. Women's liberation, Slimani suggests, would be a liberation for Moroccan society as a whole.
7/10
Josh Pugh Ginn
The Lost Pianos Of Siberia by Sophy Roberts is published in hardback by Doubleday, priced £16.99 (ebook £9.99)
YOU don't need to love Siberia or pianos to be enamoured by this book. Sophy Roberts's brilliance illuminates each page. Ostensibly, she's on a quest to find a piano for a talented pianist she befriended in Mongolia. Siberia is the haystack to her needle; in the 19th century, this part of the world experienced 'pianomania' on an epic scale. So too did it experience debilitating wars and social upheaval. Pianos were left behind in the resulting fray – and Roberts hopes one may need a new owner. But really, Roberts's search is for Siberia itself – its history, its people, and, ultimately, its soul. If abandoned yet-functioning pianos are a rarity, so too is the cultural heritage of a people whose lineage is derived from exiled Russian prisoners, and who were subjected to centuries of political and geographical brutality. Roberts's research, storytelling and descriptions of the landscape will leave you spellbound. And the quiet but beautiful fortitude of Siberia lingers long after the final page.
9/10
Nicole Whitton
A Bit Of A Stretch: The Diaries Of A Prisoner by Chris Atkins is published in hardback by Atlantic Books, priced £16.99 (ebook £6.29). Available now
A BIT of a Stretch chronicles film-maker Chris Atkins' time spent in prison following a five-year sentence for tax fraud. Atkins walks you through all aspects of a crumbling, failing prison system and provides a very real day-to-day experience as a prisoner, including cell-mate friendships (and conflict), navigating the mind-blowingly confusing app systems for education and job opportunities, and the desperate mental health and drug needs that he finds are rife among the prisoners. This depressingly addictive page-turner forces you to think about the majority of people in prison without the family connections, money and education that Atkins has. Some sensible suggestions for reform at the end of the book offer a glimmer of hope for the future of the system. This is a must read for every voter that shines a light on a terribly neglected and vulnerable prison population hidden away by 'criminal justice'.
9/10
Dan Brotzel
CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK
A Sprinkle Of Sorcery by Michelle Harrison is published in paperback by Simon and Schuster, priced £7.99 (ebook £4.99)
IN THIS rollicking story of sorcery, friendship and high jinks on stormy seas, we're reunited with sisters Fliss, Betty and Charlie as they're tugged, somewhat against their will, into another adventure. This time, we find them on Crowstone Island, awaiting the sale of their grandmother's pub. But such mundane matters are soon left behind after Betty and Charlie discover a runaway, Willow, and the Will-o'-the-Wisp that accompanies her. When Charlie is mistaken for Willow and is kidnapped, her sisters set off to find her – negotiating pirates, a magical map, a witch's talking raven and a mysterious island. This is a fun and engaging book that's sure to keep boys and girls between the ages of eight and 12 hooked. The characters are delightful and well-rounded, which means that, although you don't have to have read the prequel in order to follow this instalment, you'll probably want to – just to spend some more time with the girls.
8/10
Nicole Whitton
