5 new books to read this week

Author Pat Barker continues her quest to give voice to female stories from ancient Greece…

Fiction

1. The Voyage Home by Pat Barker is published in hardback by Hamish Hamilton, priced £20 (ebook £10.99). Available now

Pat Barker has a talent for telling bleak stories in a way which is both compelling and accessible to those who can stomach them. Since her gripping 1982 debut novel Union Street, Barker has turned her matter-of-fact approach to topics including the First World War and the Trojan war. The Voyage Home is the third in The Women of Troy Trilogy which looks at events of Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem The Iliad from the perspective of the frequently powerless women. Ritsa is now servant to King Priam’s priestess daughter Cassandra, who has been taken into the bed of victorious Agamemnon. Meanwhile, Agamemnon’s wife Clytemnestra furiously awaits his return as she grieves for the daughter he sacrificed to the Gods in a plea for a calm sea. While some knowledge of the characters may be helpful, it is not essential to have read the earlier novels in the trilogy, as Barker sprinkles in highlights of the back story in a gripping and pacy read.

9/10

Property: ‘Where the mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea’

Please, make it anyone but Kerry for Sam this year. They don’t need another All-Ireland - Lynette Fay

(Review by Beverley Rouse)

2. Shy Creatures by Clare Chambers is published in hardback by W&N, priced £20 (ebook £11.49). Available on August 29

Set in Croydon in 1964, a 37-year-old mute man with a beard down to his waist – William – is discovered shut up in a house with his elderly aunt. He’s taken to the local psychiatric hospital where art therapist Helen Hansford tries to uncover his story. Cleverly constructed, the novel moves backwards and forwards from the hospitalisation to William’s childhood and his everyday adult existence. The novel slowly unravels the mystery of how he came to be in his predicament and illuminates how even the best intentions can have a negative impact. Helen also has to face up to her situation – she’s in love with a married man, a doctor at the hospital who won’t leave his wife. Clare Chambers had a breakout hit in 2020 with Small Pleasures but has been writing intelligent, empathetic stories of mostly ordinary lives that are extraordinary in their own way for more than 20 years. She’s learned her craft. This immersive novel pays tribute to the value of kindness and compassion when set against the tides of human frailty.

9/10

(Review by Bridie Pritchard)

3. The Examiner by Janice Hallett is published in hardback by Viper, priced £18.99 (ebook £10.99). Available on August 29

Janice Hallett has done it again, turning her attention to another hotbed of jealousy spiralling out of control: the university classroom. The Examiner is a lot less dark than her last book, The Mysterious Case Of The Alperton Angels, centred around rumours about a notorious cult, and a little less funny than The Appeal, but no less intriguing. Her new whodunnit begins with an external examiner trying to piece together what happened at an art master’s course via records from an online student messaging service, project essays and WhatsApp conversations, after a murder may have taken place. A stand-out is the character of a young sculptor Jem, whose pompous arrogance will have you giggling as she annoys her classmates with rudeness, and a belief her grades should be higher. The only downside of the tome, which will have you trying to work out the ending well into the night, is the lack of drawings in the book of the mixed media art that the students produce.

8/10

(Review by Charlotte McLaughlin)

Non-fiction

4. The Red Emperor: Xi Jinping And The New China by Michael Sheridan is published in hardback by Headline Press, priced £25 (ebook £12.99). Available August 29

Chinese President Xi Jinping has been the country’s leader since ascending to the presidency in 2012. But the story of how he rose to power was one written in the generations before he was born. Now arguably one of the world’s most powerful men, The Red Emperor: Xi Jinping And The New China, the new book from veteran journalist Michael Sheridan, takes an in-depth look at his rise. Sheridan’s book is accessible and very readable, especially given the complexities of the material at hand. Historical fact is easily explained and interwoven with anecdotes from different corners which make for a really gripping read. If you’ve ever wanted to learn more about the man behind today’s China, then this is the perfect gateway.

8/10

(Review by Kathy Iffly)

Children’s book of the week

5. Open Wide! by Letizia Diamante, illustrated by Ed J. Brown is published in hardback by What On Earth!, priced £14.99 (no ebook). Available September 5

This is a picture book, but not quite as you know it. Instead of a narrative arc, Open Wide! is a joyous bombardment of facts amidst colourful illustrations. The angle is a bit niche – author Letizia Diamante chooses to focus specifically on the mouths of the animal world, but there’s far more scope within that than you might think. From discovering that tigers have 30 teeth to the hidden incisors of a rabbit, there’s plenty to learn here. It turns out mouths can tell you a whole lot about an animal – and kids aged seven and above will love picking up this book to find out a new tidbit. Well researched and beautifully illustrated, it’s the kind of book children will come back to time and time again.

8/10

(Review by Prudence Wade)

BOOK CHARTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING AUGUST 24

HARDBACK (FICTION)

1. Death At The Sign Of The Rook by Kate Atkinson

2. The Voyage Home by Pat Barker

3. Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon

4. There Are Rivers In The Sky by Elif Shafak

5. Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid

6. When The Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker

7. Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors

8. Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

9. Guilty By Definition by Susie Dent

10. You Are Here by David Nicholls

(Compiled by Waterstones)

HARDBACK (NON-FICTION)

1. Pinch Of Nom Air Fryer: Easy, Slimming Meals by Kay & Kate Allinson

2. Eighteen: A History Of Britain In 18 Young Lives by Alice Loxton

3. Imminent: Inside The Pentagon’s Hunt For UFOs by Luis Elizondo

4. Avoidance, Drugs, Heartbreak And Dogs by Jordan Stephens

5. Hitler’s People by Richard J. Evans

6. Trelawny’s Cornwall: A Journey Through Western Lands by Petroc Trelawny

7. How To Win The Premier League by Ian Graham

8. Buy Yourself The Damn Flowers by Tam Kaur

9. Stop Lying To Yourself by Simon Gilham

10. Catherine, The Princess Of Wales: The Biography by Robert Jobson

(Compiled by Waterstones)

AUDIOBOOKS (FICTION AND NON-FICTION)

1. Imminent by Luis Elizondo

2. It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover

3. Atomic Habits by James Clear

4. Message Deleted by K. L. Slater

5. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

6. The Letters Of J. R. R. Tolkien by J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by Humphrey Carpenter & Christopher Tolkien

7. Unruly by David Mitchell

8. Holmes, Margaret And Poe by James Patterson

9. The Family Game by Catherine Steadman

10. None Of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

(Compiled by Audible)