You won’t want to miss these …
ALL THEM DOGS by Djamal White, published by John Murray Press on March 26. I’ve been recommending this to everybody, I couldn’t put it down. It’s set in West Dublin gangland, so it’s in Love/Hate territory, but it’s got its own absolute distinctive voice. All Them Dogs is full of wit and great one-liners. The dialogue is so fast, so pacy. The suspense builds throughout the book, so you have this constant sense of dread because the main character is drawn to danger over and over again. You’re almost casting it in your head as it’s ready for film. I really loved it. It’s propulsive, but funny as well.
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RITUALS by Danielle McLaughlin, published by The Stinging Fly Press on April 21. McLaughlin is a great short story writer. I just loved this book; it’s elegant, subtle and beautifully written. It’s about a woman who lives by herself and has developed quite obsessive habits to deal with life. Quite early on in the book, she takes in a young male lodger. The story is about how the effects of this changes through her life and she has to adapt her rigid habits. It’s got funny moments and there’s an episode with a mobile lawnmower that’s just hilarious. It’s very slight and quick to read, but it’s got a lot of depth to it. It really stays with you afterwards and the characters are so fully formed. I highly recommend.
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THE PALM HOUSE by Gwendoline Riley, published by Pan Macmillan on April 2. If you haven’t read Gwendolyn Riley’s previous novel My Phantoms, I recommend it. It’s fantastic. I’ve bought it for people who have difficult mothers, no-one writes about mother-daughter relationships as well as her. The Palm House is a gentle story of two friends. They’re very different characters, but you get these vivid vignettes of their lives and experiences. There’s a passage, a devastating vignette, of something the main character goes through and it’s very Annie Ernaux to me. Everything is so vivid, but it’s done in such an effortless way. If you want to write, when you read this you can’t help but think that there’s no hope. She just seems to do it in her sleep, it’s masterful.
