Fiction
From riches to rags: The Effingers, by Gabriele Tergit, reviewed
Beginning in 1878, this family saga charts the success of two Jewish brothers in Berlin before the coming of the Nazis threatens not only their livelihoods but their lives
The last chapter: Departure(s), by Julian Barnes, reviewed
Aged 80, the Booker prize-winning novelist bids farewell to his devoted readers in a masterpiece of narrative trickery
Coming of age in Melbourne: Landscape with Landscape, by Gerald Murnane, reviewed
The protagonists of these six linked stories are much like the young Murnane himself, dreaming of becoming a writer and escaping to the wilds of Australia
Odd man out: The Burning Origin, by Daniele Mencarelli, reviewed
An ambitious designer based in Milan returns home to Rome on a visit and finds himself torn between nostalgia for childhood and disgust for his underachieving friends
After the party: One of Us, by Elizabeth Day, reviewed
In a sequel to Day’s 2017 novel The Party, the art historian Martin Gilbert dreams of revenge on his former friend Ben Fitzmaurice, now a dazzling Tory politician with a dark secret
No passive utopia: Tibetan Sky, by Ning Ken, reviewed
Tibet is portrayed as an uneasy cultural crossroads where globalisation, spirituality and the political traumas of two peoples collide in this sardonic, erudite novel
A supernatural western: Tom’s Crossing, by Mark Z. Danielowski, reviewed
We know from the outset that things will end very darkly indeed in this epic novel set in Utah during the run-up to Halloween, 1982
A prolonged love affair: The Two Roberts, by Damian Barr, reviewed
A tender, evocative novel portrays the lives of the once celebrated painters Colquhoun and MacBride, from their first meeting in Glasgow to their fractious later years
Glamour and intrigue: The Silver Book, by Olivia Laing, reviewed
A rigorously researched novel mingles fact and fiction in retelling the events that led up to the murder of the film director Pier Paolo Pasolini on 2 November 1975
The joy of a miserable literary Christmas
A Christmas Carol is pretty well unavoidable around now, with Little Women trailing somewhat behind. There’s no shortage of alternative…
An unconventional orphan: Queen Esther, by John Irving, reviewed
At the heart of this vast, sweeping novel is a solitary, determined heroine, who – Jane Eyre-like – is a moral force unbound by conventionalities
Alice in Nightmareland: The Matchbox Girl, by Alice Jolly, reviewed
A mute 12-year-old girl is invited to Dr Asperger’s clinic in 1930s Vienna – but how will ‘idiot’ children fare once the Nazis come to power?
A Faustian pact: The School of Night, by Karl Ove Knausgaard, reviewed
In Knausgaard’s latest psychological thriller, Kristian Hadeland, an arrogant Norwegian photography student, is implicated in a crime for which there will be harsh consequences
A philosophical quest: A Fictional Inquiry, by Daniele del Giudice, reviewed
The pacing and tone are noirish in this metaphysical detective story, set in Trieste, about the space between writing and life
A satirical portrait of village life: Love Divine, by Ysenda Maxtone Graham, reviewed
Within a bourgeois Church of England milieu of round-robins and parish chit-chat lurk rumours of sabotage and clandestine love affairs
Bernard Cornwell: ‘I don’t believe in writer’s block’
They say never meet your heroes, but Bernard Cornwell didn’t disappoint. Knowing I’m a superfan, the events team at The…
Farewell to Lyra: The Rose Field, by Philip Pullman, reviewed
In the final volume of The Book of Dust, Pan’s quest for Lyra’s lost imagination takes him east into another universe, while Lyra heads the same way looking for her daemon
Trouble in Tbilisi: The Lack of Light, by Nino Haratischwili, reviewed
Romance and family feuding Romeo and Juliet-style but on opioids unfold in 1990s Georgia, as civil war rages amid the power cuts
A literary Russian doll: The Tower, by Thea Lenarduzzi, reviewed
The closer we get to the mystery of Annie, a 19th-century consumptive locked up in a tower by her wealthy father, the more we are lost in other stories within stories
An unheroic hero: Ginster, by Siegfried Kracauer, reviewed
When Kracauer’s protagonist is finally conscripted in the first world war, he starves himself to ‘general physical debility’ and is sent to ‘peel potatoes against the foe’
Honeymoon from hell: Venetian Vespers, by John Banville, reviewed
A fin-de-siècle hack marries the daughter of wealthy oil baron but soon begins to wonder what he’s let himself in for
A portrait of alienation: The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, by Kiran Desai, reviewed
Two lovers from wealthy families in Allahabad contend with powerful forces of ambition, corruption, neighbouring feuds and sexual violence
The short, restless life of Robert Louis Stevenson
The frail but hugely successful writer broke away from his Presbyterian roots to pursue a life of travel before finally settling with his wife in remote Samoa
Whitehall farce: Clown Town, by Mick Herron, reviewed
The implication of a senior government figure in murky dealings during the Troubles presents new problems for Jackson Lamb and his Slow Horses
Hell is other academics: Katabasis, by R.F. Kuang, reviewed
A postgraduate student of ‘Analytic Magick’ must rescue the soul of her thesis supervisor from campus hell or risk being stuck in academic limbo on Earth
