Murderous impulses: The Possession, by Annie Ernaux, reviewed
Gripped by jealousy and ‘a primordial savagery’, Ernaux fantasises about committing ‘crimes of passion’ when her husband leaves her for another woman
A cremation caper: Stealing Dad, by Sofka Zinovieff, reviewed
Part grief-memoir, part macabre escapade, Zinovieff’s latest book is inspired by her own father’s bizarre strictures regarding his funeral
Marriage, motherhood and money: Show Don’t Tell, by Curtis Sittenfeld, reviewed
Funny, smart stories explore the ‘stale’ married state, the anxieties of parenthood and the sweet-sour nature of female friendship. But do they go far enough?
Undercover in the Dordogne: Creation Lake, by Rachel Kushner, reviewed
An American spy-for-hire uses her feminine wiles to infiltrate an eco-warrior group in rural France. But will she go off-piste and become indoctrinated?
Echoes of Tom Brown’s School Days: Rabbits, by Hugo Rifkind, reviewed
When 16-year-old Tommo moves to an elite, brutish boarding school, he longs to fit in and even manages to join the inner circle. But can he ever really become ‘one of them’?
The awkwardness of love in middle age: You Are Here, by David Nicholls, reviewed
A man and woman, both casualties of failed marriages, are attracted to one another on a walking holiday, but are strangely overcome by shyness
Remember, remember
The world that blossoms in this haunting novel about the importance of memory is in the aesthetic vein known as ‘mono no aware’, or ‘the pathos of things’
The waking nightmare
After years of insomnia, Marie Darrieussecq derives some comfort from finding herself in the company of Kafka, Kant, Proust, Dostoevsky, Borges and Plath
Tales of the unexpected
Eight eclectic fables draw on magic realism, science fiction, fairy tales, the Gothic, religion, brutal realism and horror movies
Neo-gothic horror: Strega, by Johanne Lykke Holm
A teenage maid goes missing after a party of men arrive at a lonely alpine hotel for a sinister carnival feast
A family scandal straight out of a Hollywood film noir
Donna Freed finally learns the truth about her biological parents, whose insurance fraud in 1960s America resembled the plot of Double Indemnity
The misery memoir of a devoted polyamorist
The rules of sex can kill. In 1844 an angry mob shot Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, for his…
