All Our Days by Dinaw Mengestu
Isaac is a refugee from Ethiopia who finds a home in Uganda. At the university he's taken under the wing of a political activist also called Isaac. The 1970s is a dangerous time to be in Uganda as their world is about to explode. Years later Isaac the Ethiopian finds himself in America and lives under the care of social worker Helen. Slowly they form a less than professional relationship and Helen realises that what little she knows of him may not be the truth. Gradually his past is revealed as the guilt he carries comes to the surface. Full review...
Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey
Maud is a little forgetful as the rows of cooling cups of tea will attest. She also has a cupboard full of peaches for some reason but not to worry. She has a family who love her and rally round, a home help and her great friend Elizabeth. Come to think of it, Elizabeth seems to be missing and the notes that Maud writes herself each day keep reminding her of this. The problem is that no one will listen to her, let alone believe her. It also reminds Maud of something else; another disappearance a long, long time ago. Full review...
Rilla of Ingleside by L M Montgomery
Rilla of Ingleside is an interesting novel for many reasons. Being the only fictional book written by a Canadian woman just after the war, about the war, it is an incredibly important work. It tells of what happened to the women who stayed at home, the limited aspects of war work that they were able to do, the endless fear and dread they felt for their loved ones far away, and all of the emotional highs and lows they experienced during such a heightened time. The novel begins as Europe is on the brink of war, and Rilla is only 15 years old and, still, a rather silly young girl. I have to say, I never much cared for Rilla. In Rainbow Valley' the book that precedes this one, she's just a spoilt baby and at the start of this story it seems that nothing much has changed. However, just as the world goes through a dramatic change during this period of time, Rilla herself grows from a child to a woman. Full review...
Travelling Sprinkler by Nicholson Baker
Meet Nicholson Baker. Now, I know I normally introduce a book with such a phrase, and every time before now I've used the name of the main character. But I feel such is the nature of Baker's books that he is the greatest character therein, and the one most important for the potential reader to understand, however close he may or may not be to his fictional creations. Baker is a very stylised author, intricately bound up in providing amusing evidence of the value of all the small things in our world. If anybody can rustle up thousands of words about those baby nubbins that are left when you split a sheet of paper across a ready-made perforation – you know the tiny scads that are left dangling outwards – it's Baker. His early books practically were a day spent in real-time, and by rights you'd think this book should not exist – surely he's covered the world already. But no – here is love, poetry, drone warfare, Debussy, and a view of dance music production as seen from the prospect of a 55-year old American male. Full review...
Someday We'll Tell Each Other Everything by Daniela Krien
Eastern Germany, and the country is in the limbo-land of time that lay between the end of the Communist state of the DDR and reunification. Teenager Maria is also in a limbo-land of a kind herself, living on a farm with the Brendels family, but not one of them. The matriarch still speaks to her in the third person for one, and while she does some of the house- and farm-work, and is in a relationship with the wannabe photographer son of the family, she knows she's not quite settled within those walls. Especially, as she is to learn, when there is a neighbour who can stir passionate emotions inside her… Full review...
To Rise Again At A Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris
An identity thief is wreaking havoc in the oddest of ways and forcing a dentist to confront his online presence. This is a book like no other you’ll know. Full review...
The Rise and Fall of Great Powers by Tom Rachman
Tooly (Matilda) Zylberberg, runs a small independent book shop in Caergenog, close enough to Hay on Wye to attract literary festival overflow. She loves and understands literature which is more than can be said about her understanding of her parents. In fact Tooly doesn't even know who her parents are. She had a weird childhood being taken from one city or country to another by Paul but she never got to ask why or even who he was. The sum of her knowledge was that he worked in IT and seemed to take care of her… or rather she took care of him. So one day she leaves her able assistant Fogg to keep the shop going and retraces her life, hopefully finding the answers to the questions she never got around to asking. Full review...
Barbarians by Tim Glencross
It's 2008 and things are on the up for the Howe family. Sherard Howe, patriarch, art lover and lefty-wing publisher is relishing the power that comes from being well-connected. Wife Daphne is about to publish her second book. Her first, a feminist tome from the 1960s, is still remembered; something that she won't be grateful for. Their son Henry is about to get a well-paid tutoring job and Afua, their informally adopted black African daughter has political ambitions. However not everyone dreams of lofty heights. Henry and Afua's poet friend Buzzy just wants to bed Afua's bloke Marcel. They'd all best enjoy their plans and achievements while they can: the nation's on the cusp of change and so, it seems, are their fortunes. Full review...
Teach Her by Mark Kotting
This is a very strange book. Jim January would not typically warrant his own book, one in which he is the star, if not the hero. He’s a bit too bland and boring for that. He is a barber. And that is all he is. He has unfulfilled dreams of traveling the world. And his wife’s about to leave him. Throw in a disgruntled soldier and a troubled former pupil and you have a lot of anger and regret bubbling around together. And, when those things combine, it’s only a matter of time before things end in handcuffs and imprisonment. Full review...
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Idris and Timur may be brothers growing up together but that doesn't mean that they will grow up to be the same. Nabi is the servant of a wealthy man but carries the secret of a deed he regrets and a love that can't be acknowledged. Then there are 10 year old Abdullah and his little sister Pari; inseparable till something separates them, causing a rift that will haunt them both in some way for the rest of their lives. They're all very different people, born of a nation of great natural beauty, natural wealth and the cradle of civilisation. It's also a nation of great pain and turmoil. These people are Afghans and this is their story. Full review...
The Headmaster's Wife by Thomas Christopher Greene
Arthur Winthrop leads a prestigious Vermont boarding school (sufficiently posh for him to be a headmaster, not a principal). Like his father before him, and his father’s father before that, it is what was always expected of him. The right thing to do. What is not the right thing to do, however, is to be caught wandering, naked, through Central Park in the middle of winter. Under questioning from the police, Arthur is keen to talk. Not about this episode, perhaps, but about other things on his mind. Like his interaction with a young student that has crossed the boundaries of an acceptable student-teacher relationship. It’s as if the flood gates have been opened and there’s no way to shut them now before everything has come gushing out. Full review...
The Pink Suit by Nicole Mary Kelby
In November 1963 the world was shocked by the assassination of President John F Kennedy, but the picture which brought home to us the horror of what had happened was not of JFK but of his wife in the iconic pink suit, soaked with her husband's blood. 'Let them see what they have done', she said. I've always assumed that the suit was new for the occasion - but it had a back story too and it's told in The Pink Suit, a work of historical fiction based on facts. Full review...
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra
Chechnya 2004: Akhmed stands watching while the Russian 'Ministry' break into his friend Dokaa's house, drag Dokaa away and set light to the remaining house. Shocked, Akhmed dashes over to rescue Dokaa's treasure: his 8 year old daughter Havaa. Realising he has to take her to safety, Akhmed moves the child to the local hospital (or rather the shell that used to accommodate it). There, alongside a less-than-skeleton staff with no equipment, Akhmed tries to do what he can for both his new charge and his countrymen knowing that he will not be the only person affected by his decision to care. Full review...
Glow by Ned Beauman
Ned Beauman has made quite a name for himself in just a few short years. In 2013, when Granta lauded him as one of their Best Young British Novelists, he had already published two novels, Boxer, Beetle (shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Desmond Elliott Prize) in 2010 and The Teleportation Accident (longlisted for the Man Booker Prize) in 2012. Full review...
Bhalla Strand by Sarah Maine
1910: A renowned artist brings his young bride to his childhood home of Bhalla House, an imposing estate on a remote Hebridean island. The grand residence was built at the expense of the local community, many of whom were evicted from their homes and crofts in order to create this rich man’s playground. Tensions run deep and the division between rich and poor seems impossible to bridge. Full review...
The Girl Who Was Saturday Night by Heather O’Neill
The time: the 1995; the place: Quebec. The Tremblay family have espoused the cause of Quebeçois separation from English-speaking Canada for many years. Etienne Tremblay has been a prominent, political folk singer throughout the childhood of Nouschka, his daughter, and her identical twin brother, Nicolas. The young children themselves appeared on stage frequently and have been brought up much in the public eye. Their father is almost always absent from their life as he feeds his selfishness on public adoration. Their mother only existed for them as a name in a hit song about a one night stand. They were cared for by Loulou, a loving grandfather lacking any influence over their behaviour. Full review...
Last Bus to Coffeeville by J Paul Henderson
Dr Eugene Chaney III promised Nancy one thing; a promise he hoped he'd never have to deliver. However, in the midst of their elderly years Nancy confirms that the time has come. So Eugene gathers together an unlikely fellowship and a bus that used to belong to Paul McCartney and plans a journey to Coffeeville, making it as much of a holiday as possible. Just one thing though: before they set out, they must spring Nancy and that may not be as easy as it sounds… even if it did sound easy. Full review...
The Quickening by Julie Myerson
Rachel and Dan are on holiday in the Caribbean, but soon after they arrive on the island of Antigua odd and disturbing things start to happen. Items seemingly move by themselves. Things break. People appear out of nowhere. And then, the attacks start. Rachel is petrified. Newly pregnant she is worrying for her baby’s safety as well as her own, and she has a nagging feeling in her stomach that the one person she should be able to trust is the one she simply cannot. Dan is acting strangely and though she begs him to let them go home early, he plays down her fears. Why won’t he believe what she’s saying, and take her seriously? Full review...
Arms Wide Open by Tom Winter
Meredith loves her husband Alistair (the father of her teenage twins Jemima and Luke). This is a bit of a problem though as Alistair now has Charlotte, a new and younger model. With his new coupling in mind, Alistair decides to take the twins on holiday so they and Charlotte can bond. Surprisingly Meredith agrees wholeheartedly; she's sure that a week with the twins would break any fledgling relationship up. Meanwhile Meredith's own twin brother, Jack, is 'taking a break from work' which is fine but you'd think he could at least take a turn visiting his dementia-bound mother… or at least Meredith would think that and regularly does. Jack isn't as responsible as she is, in fact he isn't as a lot of things as she is but Meredith knows it will all turn out ok in the end, and, after the incident with the dead bird in the bleach, she may just be right. Full review...
The Dark Horse by Rumer Godden
Dark Invader was a well-bred racehorse and had the looks to go with it but he was disappointing in his first season in England and his owner had better uses for the money his sale could bring. He was shipped out to India, which might sound rather extreme, but was not uncommon in the nineteen thirties and there were some benefits. The main one was that he was going to a good owner who cared for his welfare and a trainer who realised that he would get most out of his horses if they were contented. His new owner, Mr Leventine, even arranged for his lad to travel out to India with him and this was probably Dark Invader's greatest piece of luck. Ted Mullins not only loved the horse - he understood him. Full review...
The One I Was by Eliza Graham
In 1939, before the outbreak of the Second World War, a boy arrived at Harwich docks. He was a Kindertransport refugee fleeing the anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany. Benjamin Goldman would change his name to Benny Gault when his idea that the war wouldn't happen and he could go home to Germany came to nothing, but in the meantime he was adopted by Lord and Lady Dorner. Six boys were to live at their country home - Fairfleet - and be educated by a private tutor. On the face of it Benny's luck could not have worked out better, but he was hiding a secret. Full review...
Who is Tom Ditto? by Danny Wallace
Danny Wallace is the foremost exponent of ‘Bet Based Non-Fiction’ that I know. This is when a bloke says something daft in the pub and follows through; Wallace has started his own cult, his own nation and said Yes to absolutely everything. However, some things are fine as a quirky adventure in the real world, but following people around London and copying their every move? That sounds a little like stalking to me and should perhaps be best explored in the world of fiction. In a world like Danny Wallace’s new novel ‘Who Is Tom Ditto?’ Full review...
Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes
Hitler Youth Ronaldo! Which way to the street? With these words a very misguided Nazi Fuhrer asks for his first directions in the Berlin of 2011. Mistakenly believing the lad to be a party junior member with his own name on his football shirt, he also thinks for a while it is still 1945. He's soon informed of the truth, but still makes some unfortunate conclusions – that the street kiosks selling Turkish language newspapers are a sign of a Soviet-beating alliance between the two countries, that people eat granola bars because the war still leads to a bread shortage, and that people making an ironic speech bubble with their fingers in the air is all that is left of the Hitler salute. But yes, after a long hiatus neither he nor our author is particularly concerned with explaining, that man is back – and if he has his way he's going to be just as popular this time round… Full review...
Something Like Happy by John Burnside
How do you pick a name for a short story collection? It seems to me the ...and other stories add-on is like picking a favourite child, a promotion of one portion of the content above the rest. John Burnside has got a title story here, but such is the mood of the book that he seems to have nailed the matter, and picked the most apposite name. Something Like Happy could in a way be the title for practically every piece here. Full review...
Brief Loves That Live Forever by Andrei Makine
Our unnamed narrator is inspired to think back through his life on the girls and women he has been in love with, partly because of a time spent with an associate – a time marked by a seemingly most unremarkable encounter with a further woman – whom he deemed had never been loved. The associate, you see, had spent half his adult life in Soviet camps for political instruction – our narrator himself was an orphan in the 1960s' Soviet Union. This snappy volume takes us through episodes in several lives at different points during and since the second half of communist rule – and finally explains the import of that unremarkable encounter… Full review...
A Single Breath by Lucy Clarke
Eva is blissfully content with life. She has a fulfilling career in her job as a midwife and a happy marriage to the man of her dreams who clearly adores her. Her contented existence is thrown into complete turmoil when, early one morning, her beloved husband Jackson is swept out to sea whilst fishing on the Dorset coast. It seems that in one fell swoop, all of her hopes and dreams have been washed away into the cold, white water. Full review...
Everland by Rebecca Hunt
There have been two expeditions to the Antarctic island of Everland a century apart. The ill-fated 1913 trip of Dinners, Napps and Millet-Bass is primitive by today's standards. The 2012 expedition is better equipped, better prepared and arrives at a better time of year so all bodes well for Decker, Brix and Jess. But despite the differences both expeditions have things in common. Both groups carry secrets, some become obvious but others remain behind waiting to become discovered. Full review...