FICTION
The Weekend by Charlotte Wood is published in hardback by W&N , priced £14.99 (ebook £7.99). Available June 25
This visceral, arresting portrayal of friendship and grief sees three women in their 70s convene at their late friend Sylvie's beach house, to clear it out and say goodbye. Severe, tightly wound Jude; ever the optimist Adele, and intelligent Wendy with her decrepit dog Finn, have known one another for decades, and while those years contain a lot of love, their relationships have become fractious, complicated by secrets, regrets and exasperation. The frequent descriptions of the incontinent Finn are nauseating, but it's indicative of Charlotte Wood's incredible ability to induce an actual physical response in the reader. You cringe alongside Jude at Adele's lack of self-awareness; you feel the prick of tears as Wendy feigns poise in the face of Jude's thoughtlessness and unkindness. Wood tackles age sharply and movingly, and makes you consider the darker aspects of your own friendships.
8/10
Ella Walker
Heaven And Earth by Paolo Giordano is published in hardback by W&N, priced £14.99 (ebook £7.99)
Fourteen-year-old Teresa watches from behind a curtain as three boys strip naked and dive into the moonlit waters of her grandmother's pool. It is the year everything changed. The year those bland summers she once resented became the gateway to something hot and urgent – spirituality, lust, jealously. Nicola, Tommaso and Bern – who Teresa will love for the rest of her life – were raised as brothers on the farm next door. But though Teresa injects herself into their world, it will be years before she truly realises the twisted depth of their brotherhood. Bonded by shared love and resentment, the boys' seemingly unequivocal connection holds them together as much as it drives them apart – leaving Teresa to interpret where exactly she fits into their story. Raw and evocative, Giordano's Heaven and Earth is a breathtaking and poignant creation that will leave you itching under the skin.
9/10
Scarlett Sangster
The Half Sister by Sandie Jones is published in paperback by Pan, priced £7.99 (ebook 99p). Available June 25
A knock at the door during a normal Sunday lunch changes everything for sisters Kate and Lauren. On the other side of the door is their half sister, Jess, looking for answers about the family she never knew. Told through dual narratives, this book is a compelling read and has a lot of potential. However, it is let down by the slow pacing during the first half, which sees the story get bogged down in a lot of unnecessary details and sub-plots that don't add much to the main narrative. Things pick up in the second half, as it races towards the somewhat inevitable conclusion. The end comes too soon, and there has not been enough back story to make it feel believable or satisfying. The Half Sister is a domestic suspense thriller, but perhaps could be better described as a light family drama, as it lacks the heart-racing hook of a thriller.
6/10
Megan Baynes
Rolling Fields by David Trueba is published in hardback by W&N, priced £16.99 (ebook £7.99)
David Trueba is highly regarded in his native Spain as a successful novelist and film-maker. Rolling Fields spent weeks in the bestseller lists in Spain on its release in 2017. Now translated into English by Rahul Bery, it tells the story of Dani Mosca, a successful musician whose father has just died. The 40-year-old undertakes to accompany his father's body in a hearse on a final trip back to his childhood village for interment there. The road trip becomes the pretext for a journey into Dani's past, as he reflects on his relationship with his father, the revelation that he was adopted, the early years getting his band off the ground, conquests and relationships, heartbreak and tragedy. Not much happens in the present, so we are constantly thrown back into the past, much of which is a motley selection of anecdote, pillow talk and hearsay. The style is light and readable, but somehow something gets lost in translation, and the book struggles to really hold your attention.
6/10
Dan Brotzel
NON-FICTION
The Art of Political Storytelling by Philip Seargeant is published in hardback by Bloomsbury Academic, priced £21.99 (ebook £12.86)
Subtitled 'Why Stories Win Votes in Post-Truth Politics', this book by a language and communication expert tries to explain one of the great quandaries of our age: why reason and logic fail to win out over emotion and 'truthiness' in political discourse. The answer, argues Seargeant, is stories. Successful recent political initiatives, such as the election of Donald Trump and the winning Brexit vote, packaged their causes as powerfully simple but highly adaptable narratives that plug into age-old templates and carry further into the electorate's consciousness than careful argument or detailed analysis of the facts on the ground. No doubt it was ever thus, to some extent, but this survey of the toolbox of the political storyteller – from deep structure to rhetorical style to the mainstreaming of conspiracy theories – goes a long way to account for the recent successes of provocative populist leaders. Interesting and readable, this is an enlightening guide to our current political moment.
7/10
Dan Brotzel
CHILDREN'S
Wonderscape by Jennifer Bell is published in paperback by Walker Books, priced £7.99 (ebook £5.79)
Jennifer Bell, author of the international bestseller The Uncommoners: The Crooked Sixpence, has worked her magic again with this fantastic sci-fi offering. It starts with a bang: while on their way to school, Arthur, Cecily and Ren are accidentally sucked through a portal into an in-reality adventure game called Wonderscape, which exists in the year 2473. The game, and the future, offer plenty of opportunities for otherworldliness, which Bell takes full advantage of. What makes this book stand out is its casual references to scientific concepts such as nanotechnology and cryptocurrency, as well as its celebration of humanity's heroes, including Newton, Edison and Wangari Maathai, who are cast as characters in the game. Bell does this with such finesse that the story never feels like a history or science lesson in disguise. This is a fun-filled, character-driven, fast-paced, vibrant story – but together with its thought-provoking, science-embracing and hero-referencing narrative, it will almost certainly win both hearts and minds.
9/10
Nicole Whitton
