What we read in July
Our Reader Services Librarian Lucy highlights some of her favourite reads from July.
When Cora takes her daughter Maia and her newborn son to register his name, she has three options - Maia's impulsive suggestion, Cora's choice or the name her abusive husband insists on. The Names follows the lives of Cora, Maia and Bear/Julian/Gordon every seven years for four decades, exploring the different paths that one small change creates. The Names is utterly page turning, poignant, sad, thrilling and so very well written. Knapp almost entirely removes the abuser from the storyline. This is not his story, this is the story of those who survived.
The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey
William, Lawrence and Vincent are the last boys living at the Captain Scott Home, a sanctuary for boys afflicted with 'The Bug'. Looked after by Mothers Morning, Afternoon and Night, the boys learn from the Book of Knowledge, confess to the Book of Dreams and have their misdeeds recorded in the Book of Guilt. And when they get better, they are sent to the idyllic seaside resort of Margate. But life outside the home is changing and the government is shutting the programme down. The three boys, insulated from the outside world and the truths of their existence face an uncertain future.
The Book of Guilt is creepy, unsettling and ominous, narrated in turns by Vincent, the Minister for Loneliness who is in charge of the scheme in Thatcher's government, and by Nancy, a young girl hidden away from the world by her family. Elements of Never Let Me Go, Nineteen Eighty-Four and The Handmaid's Tale make this a compulsive read.
The Sunshine Man by Emma Stonex
When James is released from prison for the murder of Birdie's sister, Providence, Birdie sets out to hunt him across the country. Through the eyes of unreliable narrators Birdie and James, the story delves into the raw emotions of those left behind. Stonex expertly portrays their complex anger, grief and the love they share for Providence, unspooling a decades-long mystery filled with twists and obscured truths. Readers of her previous novel The Lamplighters will enjoy the slow burn.
Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead
Harlem in the 1970s comes alive in Crook Manifesto, a novel told through three interconnected stories. When furniture salesman and small-time fence Ray Carney's daughter asks for Jackson 5 tickets, he reluctantly teams up with the corrupt Detective Munson, leading to a chaotic rampage across the city. In the second story, Carney's friend and associate, Pepper, hunts for a missing actress, offering a glimpse into the 1970s film industry. The final chapter finds Ray and Pepper back at the notorious Dumont Club, where Alexander Oakes is running for office, all while an arsonist targets buildings throughout the neighbourhood. Carney and Pepper are great characters full of charm and charisma and Carney has aged appropriately, becoming the settled, comfortable middle aged businessman with growing children. I hope there are more stories in his universe.
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Barbara van Laar is the teenager daughter of the wealthy but distant owners of a summer camp in upstate New York. When she disappears from the camp one summer in the late 1970s, the suspects are many and varied, from the blue collar staff to the wealthy guests at the van Laar estate, the camp counsellors and an escaped serial killer. For Barbara's mother Alice, it's all too similar to her first child Bear's disappearance, a decade earlier. Told from multiple points of view across the two timelines, this is a tightly woven, highly enjoyable, page turning mystery.
The World and all that it Holds by Aleksandar Hemon
Rafael Pinto, a young Jewish pharmacist from Sarajevo witnesses the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand from close up, little knowing that this action will forever alter the course of his life. From the trenches of a world war to the steppes of Asia to Shanghai and another war, this is a gorgeous poetic story of love that crosses empires and spans continents and time, and the more immediate and desperate love of a parent for their child.
The Book of Disappearance by Ibtisām ʻĀzim, translated from the Arabic by Sinan Antoon
A work of speculative fiction that supposes the disappearance one night of all Palestinians living in Palestine. Told through the perspectives of Alaa, a Palestinian man mourning his recently deceased Grandmother, and Ariel, an Israeli journalist who, after Alaa vanishes, reads his journal and moves into his apartment. A beautiful, sad and important story.
We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman
Ash, nursing her best friend Edi through her final days, recounts her memories of their intertwined lives. As Edi fades, her brother Jonah, Ash's ex Honey and their daughter Bella plus the staff at the hospice and friends of the women rally around to support. The book is rich with wonderfully lovely characters, and similarly to Sandwich, she stops just short of maudlin. Newman has crafted a genuine and honest portrayal of love and friendship, grief and the realities of life. I wanted to climb into the book and immerse myself in it.
