Tender and thoughtful books full of connection picked as the best Contemporary novels out
The Underdog by Felicity Cloake (4th Estate £16.99, 288pp)
Katie is 36 and trying to make it as a chef, having given up on a legal career at the same time that her lawyer fiancé dumped her for one of his trainees.
With the trainee now pregnant, Katie throws herself into the world of restaurants and food, taking courses and menial jobs at high-end establishments to get experience.
Her dream is to set the London food scene alight doing a job that fulfils her, but instead she’s making sandwiches in a cafe and feeling resentful about it. Katie feels stuck in the cafe and also in her relationship with a swaggering young chef.
When a handsome doctor starts popping in, she can’t see past his dog – who she is not a fan of. I loved this joyful romcom.
The Left and the Lucky by Willy Vlautin (Faber £16.99, 288pp)
I WAS moved by this emotional, thoughtful story about the unlikely friendship between 42-year-old house painter Eddie and Russell, the sensitive eight-year-old who lives next door.
Russell’s older brother Curtis is aggressive and disruptive and makes his life a misery, dishing out regular brutal beatings and constant humiliation.
Russell starts hanging around Eddie’s, helping him with painting jobs and gradually opening up about what’s going on at home. Eventually, Curtis goes too far and is sent to prison.
Eddie is kind and sees how terrified Russell is when Curtis comes home, so offers him somewhere to stay. Eddie’s place is a refuge for Russell and the more time they spend together the stronger their relationship grows.
Alternately heartwarming and heartbreaking, it’s brilliant on loneliness and how much it means finally to build a solid connection. Wonderful.
Hey Man by Andrew Meehan (Muswell Press £12.99, 242pp)
Hey Man is available now
THIS is another story about an age-gap male friendship, with 13 years between the protagonists this time. Ian is 17 when he starts lodging with Tommy, 30, in London. It’s 1989 and impressionable Ian is a student preparing for medical school while Tommy is an actor.
It doesn’t take long for Ian’s interest in Tommy to become an obsession, and when Tommy disappears he can’t get past the feeling that their business is unfinished.
The unlikely pair meet again by chance in 2004, when Ian is now a Benedictine monk and Tommy is dealing with fame and going through a divorce.
With their differences more pronounced, Ian doesn’t tell Tommy he has thought about him every day, or that the time apart had passed like a very long prayer. Tender and thoughtful.