This week’s bookcase includes reviews of The Colony by Audrey Magee and Block, Delete, Move On by Lalalaletmeexplain.
Plus, Akwaeke Emezi is back with their second captivating YA novel…
Fiction
1. The Colony by Audrey Magee is published in hardback by Faber & Faber, priced £14.99 (ebook £7.99). Available now
The Colony by Audrey Magee. Picture credit Faber and Faber/PA.
The Colony is set on a remote island off the west coast of Ireland in 1979, where an Englishman and a Frenchman have come to spend their summer. The Englishman, Mr Lloyd, is an artist who wants to paint the cliffs, and the Frenchman, JP, is a PhD student writing a linguistical study on the Irish language – dying out everywhere but on the island. The story of conflict and resentment breeding between Mr Lloyd, JP, and the island dwellers, is interspersed with the gruesome details of what is happening back on the Irish mainland during the Troubles. The story of art and identity is told in beautiful and colourful prose, often verging on the poetic. Magee has written a gorgeous and powerful novel that will stick with you.
9/10
(Review by Frances Wright)
2. Devotion by Hannah Kent is published in hardback by Picador, priced £14.99 (ebook £8.49). Available now
Devotion by Hannah Kent. Picture credit: Picador/PA.
Devotion is a modern classic, on par with heart-wrenching love stories such as Wuthering Heights and Pride And Prejudice. It tells the story of an achingly beautiful love and a brutal search for freedom, with the epic landscapes as pressing and foreboding as the thoughts and feelings weighing on main character Hanne. 15-year-old Hanne prefers being in nature than hanging out with girls her own age – until she meets Thea, and finds acceptance. This moving tale is told from Hanne’s perspective, and features a twist so brilliantly done, it will leave you gasping for breath.
8/10
(Review by Sophie Corcoran)
3. When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo is published in hardback by Hamish Hamilton, priced £14.99 (ebook £9.99). Available now
When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo. Picture credit: Hamish Hamilton/PA.
Ayanna Lloyd Banwo warns at the start of her debut novel, When We Were Birds, that the island of Trinidad is real – but everything else in her novel is fiction. Writing in the local dialect, Lloyd Banwo welcomes the reader into a rich mixture of the real and fantasy landscapes of Trinidad. The narrative alternates between Darwin, a young Rastafari man forced by hardship to take up work as a gravedigger, and Yejide, who we first see as a young girl questioning her grandmother about their family connection to corbeau – mythical death-spirits. Lloyd Banwo gives each of her protagonists an authentic voice, and we feel their conflicts and urges deeply. The supporting characters are movingly drawn, too. As the novel rushes Darwin and Yejide towards its dramatic conclusion, you almost wish for more time with them all, and the enigmatic world Lloyd Banwo has created.
8/10
(Review by Joshua Pugh Ginn)
Non-fiction
4. Block, Delete, Move On by LalalaLetMeExplain is published in hardback by Bantam Press, priced £12.99 (ebook £9.49). Available now
Block, Delete, Move On by LalalaLetMeExplain. Picture credit: Bantam Press/PA.
Weren’t dating apps meant to make meeting people and falling in love easier? Sadly, the Tinder age – despite all the romances it has successfully sparked – has just added new layers of doubt, deceit and even danger to the minefield of modern courtship. The witty and streetwise Block, Delete, Move On from rising Instagram star LalalaLetMeExplain, an anonymous agony aunt and qualified social worker, is an official guide to avoiding the pitfalls and red flags that if ignored, can lead to ghosting, gaslighting and worse forms of abuse. While it is squarely aimed at women who date men, there are empowering tips for anyone looking to find love and avoid pain, and her exploration of persistent toxic male attitudes is sobering.
8/10
(Review by James Cann)
Children’s book of the week
5. Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi is published in paperback by Faber & Faber, priced £7.99 (ebook £7.99). Available now
Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi. Picture credit: Faber and Faber/PA.
This is Akwaeke Emezi’s second YA novel, set in the same sci-fi universe as Pet. Bitter is a young orphaned artist who has survived abusive foster homes, and now lives in the safe creative school of Eucalyptus. Unfortunately, things aren’t quite as secure outside in the city of Lucille, where capitalist overlords rule over the poor citizens. Bitter tries to stay out of the demonstrations, but soon gets drawn in. It’s a captivating book – Emezi builds a fully realised world full of injustice, and the sci-fi elements are quite terrifying and imaginative. It’s not always an easy read – Emezi doesn’t shy away from the realities of abuse and violence – but it’s important and moving. They show art can be as powerful as physical protest – a valuable lesson for any young person wondering how they can help enact change.
8/10
(Review by Prudence Wade)
BOOK CHARTS FOR THE WEEK
HARDBACK (FICTION)
1. The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett
2. Daughter Of The Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
3. Pandora by Susan Stokes-Chapman
4. The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths
5. To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
6. The Leviathan by Rosie Andrews
7. Love Marriage by Monica Ali
8. The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
9. The Maid by Nita Prose
10. A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe
(Compiled by Waterstones)
HARDBACK (NON-FICTION)
1. Block, Delete, Move On by LalalaLetMeExplain
2. Otherlands by Thomas Halliday
3. Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Dr Julie Smith
4. Tired And Tested by Sophie McCartney
5. This Is Vegan Propaganda by Ed Winters
6. The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse by Charlie Mackesy
7. Manifest by Roxie Nafousi
8. Pinch Of Nom Comfort Food by Kay Featherstone & Kate Allinson
9. Big Panda And Tiny Dragon by James Norbury
10. What I Wish People Knew About Dementia by Wendy Mitchell
(Compiled by Waterstones)
AUDIOBOOKS (FICTION AND NON-FICTION)
1. Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Dr Julie Smith
2. This Is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay
3. Atomic Habits by James Clear
4. The Sound Of Laughter by Peter Kay
5. Windswept & Interesting by Billy Connolly
6. The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths
7. Something Fresh by P. G. Wodehouse
8. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
9. The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
10. Will by Will Smith & Mark Manson
(Compiled by Audible)
