Fans of His Dark Materials will be pleased to hear Philip Pullman is back with more drama from his multi-layered world…
Fiction
1. An Olive Grove In Ends by Moses McKenzie is published by Wildfire. Available now
UK cover for An Olive Grove In Ends. April 28th 2022. Preorder link deyah: https://t.co/nQ394p7n2V pic.twitter.com/G2UW1sZL2D
— Moses McKenzie (@eastsidemoses) December 6, 2021
Sayon Hughes has a dream to rise to the heights – social and literal – of Bristol’s Clifton neighbourhood. But born into the infamous Hughes family, the only way to drag himself out of the deprivation he lives in is to deal drugs. The hurdles he faces are made clear 10 pages into Moses McKenzie’s engrossing debut novel, when he commits a crime. Sayon, son of a pastor and in love with the daughter of another, must work out who knows of his crime, and who can be trusted. In a manner tender yet unsentimental, McKenzie describes Sayon’s battle to navigate this complex neighbourhood, which offers few escape routes from the usual predetermined outcomes for its inhabitants – none of which traditionally end in Clifton. Just 24, McKenzie has delivered a remarkable debut full of wisdom.
9/10
(Review by Ian Parker)
2. Here Goes Nothing by Steve Toltz is published in hardback by Sceptre. Available now
If you're a fan of the Booker Prize-shortlisted A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz, hold on your hats!
HERE GOES NOTHING is coming 3rd May and it's going to be your laugh-out-loud treat of the summer!
Pre-order signed copies from @waterstones: https://t.co/kDkEZpziO8 pic.twitter.com/8zD2p5pkqE— Sceptre Books (@SceptreBooks) April 13, 2022
For anyone who has gone through the last few years and thought things couldn’t possibly get any worse, Steve Toltz’s latest novel Here Goes Nothing is here to prove you wrong. Angus Mooney is trying to come to terms with his own death, as his murderer makes moves on his pregnant widow. Meanwhile a new, even more deadly, pandemic is sweeping the globe. This vision of the afterlife is far from utopian, with the dead taking all the worst aspects of human nature with them as they depart the mortal plane. Toltz – whose debut novel A Fraction Of The Whole was shortlisted for the Booker Prize – offers wit and plenty of food for thought with this dystopian novel, but if you’re looking for a feel-good read, you should steer clear.
7/10
(Review by Eleanor Barlow)
3. The Schoolhouse by Sophie Ward is published in hardback by Corsair. Available now
Sophie Ward’s second novel is a blend of thriller, police procedural and teenage diary, predominantly set in an experimental school in the 1970s. Protagonist Isobel becomes entangled in the search for a missing schoolgirl in the 1990s, as her own troubled past rears its ugly head. The mysteries of the child’s disappearance and of what scarred Isobel so deeply 15 years earlier make the book a page-turner, with some intriguing themes of trauma and abuse. But the links between the cases are tenuous, and breakthroughs by investigators solving them appear at times contrived. Some of the violence seems sensational and the motives not entirely convincing.
5/10
(Review by Sophie Wingate)
Non-fiction
4. Time Is A Mother by Ocean Vuong is published in hardback by Jonathan Cape. Available now
✨'Vuong is a prodigious talent.' - Financial Times
Happy Publication Day to Ocean Vuong! TIME IS A MOTHER is the highly anticipated and deeply intimate second poetry collection from one of the most important poets of his generation🎉 pic.twitter.com/VrVQPeivgE— Jonathan Cape (@JonathanCape) April 7, 2022
Ocean Vuong is a writer to watch – he proved that in his impossibly moving debut book On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous. This is his second poetry collection, and he touches upon many of the same themes – sexuality, being an immigrant in America, art – plus, throughout the poems, he’s constantly grappling with the death of his mother. While some of the more experimental poems don’t feel hugely accessible, the simpler verses feel more powerful. Vuong is certainly a talented writer, but will likely reach more people with his fiction than poetry.
7/10
(Review by Prudence Wade)
Children’s book of the week
5. The Imagination Chamber by Philip Pullman is published in hardback by Scholastic. Available now
Today you can open The Imagination Chamber...
Prepare to return to the world of #HisDarkMaterials as @PhilipPullman reveals new scenes set during the events of Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass and The Book of Dust.#TheImaginationChamber is out today pic.twitter.com/5Wp8NMsaUF— Scholastic UK (@scholasticuk) April 28, 2022
The many worlds Philip Pullman has created are already impossibly rich, but fans will be pleased to discover yet more layers in this series of sketches and snapshots. Each page is a window offering tantalising glimpses into the characters of His Dark Materials and the not-yet-completed trilogy, The Book Of Dust. The witch Serafina Pekkala hovering above a field at night, taking in the stillness of a silence that contains multitudes. Lyra as a child, eating too much cake during a visit from an eminent writer and hiding her vomit under a rug. And Will, a surgeon in training, needing to obscure the true precision of his hands – a legacy from his time as bearer of the subtle knife. Slim in volume only, less is more with this quiet, beautifully crafted companion book. A wonderful stopgap for fans impatient for the highly-anticipated Book Of Dust finale.
9/10
(Review by Jemma Crew)
Book charts for the week ending April 30th
Hardback (Fiction)
1. Elektra by Jennifer Saint
2. Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart
3. Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
4. People Person by Candice Carty-Williams
5. Sea Of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
6. The No-Show by Beth O’Leary
7. No Less The Devil by Stuart MacBride
8. With This Kiss by Carrie Hope Fletcher
9. Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes
10. Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
(Compiled by Waterstones)
Hardback (Non-fiction)
1. The War On The West by Douglas Murray
2. Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Dr Julie Smith
3. The Palace Papers by Tina Brown
4. Freezing Order by Bill Browder
5. Northerners by Brian Groom
6. Chums by Simon Kuper Kuper
7. The Real Anthony Fauci by Robert F. Kennedy
8. The Meal Prep King by Meal Prep King
9. Taste by Stanley Tucci
10. The Shortest History Of The Soviet Union by Sheila Fitzpatrick
(Compiled by Waterstones)
Audiobooks (Fiction & Non-fiction)
1. The War On The West by Douglas Murray
2. The Couple At No. 9 by Claire Douglas
3. Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Dr Julie Smith
4. Finding Me by Viola Davis
5. Nick And Charlie by Alice Oseman
6. Atomic Habits by James Clear
7. The World’s Worst Pets by David Walliams
8. The Wim Hof Method by Wim Hof
9. This Much Is True by Miriam Margolyes
10. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
(Compiled by Audible)
