Flashlight by Susan Choi

Reviewed by Jen

I know I won’t be able to do this novel justice in my review – it’s simply remarkable. This is an immersive yet intimate story of loss and detachment, family and state, resilience and reconciliation.  Compelling, beautifully written and un-put-downable – don’t pass this one by!

Confessions by Catherine Airey

Reviewed by Jen

An emotive and poignant unspooling of family histories and secrets, this is an enthralling and astonishingly assured debut from Catherine Airey.  She brings this ambitious novel to life with huge compassion for her characters and a deft ability to tackle issues big and small.

The Boyhood of Cain by Michael Amherst

Reviewed by Vicky

In fewer than 200 pages, Amherst manages to encapsulate the many and contrary struggles of an adolescent on the cusp of his teenage years. Succinct and understated, this is a powerful debut.

Life Hacks for a Little Alien by Alice Franklin

Reviewed by Vicky

Little Alien isn’t like other children. She doesn’t know what they’re saying to her. Misunderstood and underestimated, her life changes when she discovers an untranslated medieval manuscript. Wonderfully quirky, refreshingly witty and utterly lovable.

No One Would Do What the Lamberts Have Done by Sophie Hannah

Reviewed by Vicky

Here there is laugh-out-loud humour and unconditional love wrapped up in a metafictional rollercoaster of a book. It’s a perfect combination of clever and absolutely bonkers. I can guarantee one thing – you won’t have read anything quite like it.

Flesh by David Szalay

Reviewed by Jen

Szalay’s prose is spare and disciplined and a melancholy pervades this novel as a result. This is more than a book about masculinity, it is a novel exploring what it is to live a life.  You may not actively enjoy this, but it is an immersive and provocative read.

The Names by Florence Knapp

Reviewed by Jen

Ever wondered if you would still be you if you had been given a different name? What are the implications of carrying an inherited name or the associations of what you are called? Knapp meditates on this idea in her richly imagined, deeply moving and life affirming debut novel.

The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce

Reviewed by Vicky 

When 76 year-old artist Vic Kemp tells his children he’s to marry a 27 year-old woman, it’s safe to say the news doesn’t go down well.  Goose, Netta, Iris and Susan don’t get much time to find out what’s going on as 46 days later, their father is dead. If you take one book on holiday this year, you’ll only need this one.

A Room Above a Shop by Anthony Shapland

Reviewed by Vicky

Spare and fragmentary, this stunning debut is quietly powerful and beautifully devastating.  Shapland is remarkable in how much he is able to convey in so few words. This is poetry in prose. I haven’t read anything so perfectly formed in a long time.