American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins is published in hardback by Tinder Press, priced £14.99 (ebook £7.99). Available January 21
WE OFTEN hear stories about the horrific journeys migrants make from Mexico to the United States, but rarely from the perspective of a woman and her child – which is what you get in American Dirt. This isn't the first time Cummins has written about the effects of extreme violence; her memoir A Rip in Heaven: A Memoir of Murder and Its Aftermath, deals with a horrific attack on her brother and two cousins. American Dirt is a fiction and opens in Acapulco. Lydia's family is murdered by the cartel, and she's flees with her son Luca to make the dangerous journey to the US, forced to jump onto moving trains and pursued by police and the cartel. Cummins has obviously done her research and the journey feels incredibly realistic. The content can be quite brutal and there's not a huge amount of character development, but you're quickly swept up in their trials and tribulations. A gripping, eye-opening read.
8/10
Prudence Wade
Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid is published in hardback by Bloomsbury Circus, priced £12.99 (EBOOK £10.90)
KILEY Reid's debut novel is already making waves on both sides of the Atlantic, and it's not hard to see why. It's a tautly paced, brilliantly observed and wonderfully subtle study of the complex interrelationship of race and privilege. The story centres on an incident in which Emira, a young black woman who works as a babysitter for an affluent white family, is suspected by a white security guard of kidnapping Briar Chamberlain, the little girl she is paid to look after. The incident sets off a chain of events that deftly exposes the anxieties of affluence and the often unconscious blinkers of privilege in contemporary American society, and no doubt elsewhere. This is a story about liberal guilt and the covert racism of people who are convinced they are the least racist people in the room. Guilty about what happened to her employee, Briar's mum Alix seeks to befriend and encourage Emira in ways that, however generous, seem less than wholly disinterested – especially when she discovers Emira is dating her old High School crush, Kelley. Alix and Kelley's relationship had a troubled ending that was also racially charged. The story accelerates through a series of lightly drawn, compelling scenes to a conclusion that avoids easy solutions and points the finger at systemic issues that are as much about class as they are about race.
9/10
Dan Brotzel
Isabelle In The Afternoon by Douglas Kennedy is published in paperback by Hutchinson, priced £13.99 (ebook £9.99)
US WRITER Douglas Kennedy writes what is sometimes called "family noir". This overwrought tale of transatlantic passion asks what we want from life. Self-absorbed Sam is an American student in Paris in the 1970s when he meets the enigmatic Isabelle in a bookshop. Older, married and available only in the afternoons, she offers compartmentalised love and intense sex in her untidy attic flat up a dizzy staircase. Sam can never have what he wants, so sticks to his plan for a big-shot American legal life, chases other women, marries one, chases more, while his stubborn heart remains true to his chain-smoking enchantress. The writing sings at the start, as does the story, but something is lost down the long corridors of life, although maybe that's Kennedy's point. The pages do rattle by though in this dialogue-driven novel about complicated love.
7/10
Julian Cole
NON-FICTION
You're Not Listening by Kate Murphy is published in hardback by Harvill Secker, priced £16.99 (ebook £9.99). Available January 16
THIS book by journalist Kate Murphy purports to "transform your conversations, relationships and life" by digging into how and why we communicate so poorly. Through interviews with experts as diverse as an ex-FBI chief investigator to a furniture salesman, New York Times contributor Murphy addresses listening in different contexts, such as at work or to ourselves, but essentially every chapter says the same: people do not pay enough attention. It is not a self-help book, with a to-do list to improve your skills – in fact, Murphy disparages how some "gurus" have misinterpreted active listening – more a thesis or thoroughly researched piece of long-form journalism on human behaviour. Unfortunately, it repeatedly uses social media and technology as a shorthand for modern self-obsession, and has a thread of nostalgia (notably the author's recollection of hours gossiping with a great-great-aunt) that simplistically implies things used to be better. It's an interesting read, but not quite life transforming.
6/10
Natalie Bowen
CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK
One Of Us Is Next by Karen McManus is published in paperback by Penguin, priced £7.99 (ebook £4.99)
2017's One Of Us Is Lying was quite spectacular – Karen McManus has a knack for YA fiction, sketching out teen angst, first love and adolescent awkwardness that's free from cliche, and amped up by the trappings of online gossip. And she's not afraid to kill off characters either, which is always commendable. One Of Us Is Next is the follow-up, based at the same Bayview High School in the aftermath of the Simon Kelleher scandal (although, you needn't have read the first book, all is explained). 18 months on and a similarly insidious game of Truth or Dare by text amongst students has begun. Told from the perspective of classmates Phoebe, Maeve and Knox, McManus touches on sibling difficulties, dark web forums, bullying and public humiliation, but also the strength of real friendships, and the struggles to forgive those you once trusted. It's fun too, full of snogs and stakeouts. You'll race through it - and the twist isn't half bad.
8/10
Ella Walker
