Beautifully written and thought-provoking Contemporary novels to read now: Kitten by
Kitten by Stacey Yu (Sceptre £18.99, 304pp)
Katie, 22, recently graduated and is living in New York but, unlike her friends, has no ambition or plans. She doesn’t have a job and relies on her boyfriend of six months, James, for pretty much everything. Katie also hasn’t spoken to her mother for a year.
When James introduces her to his family’s cat, Silver, she becomes obsessed with getting Silver to like her.
When James takes Katie and Silver on holiday to his family’s seaside home, her feelings towards Silver grow even deeper. At the same time, her other relationships become more difficult.
Katie is awkward and weird but I rooted for her from the start. The beautifully written narrative clips along and is thought-provoking on loneliness and feeling out of step with the world.
The best lessons about life… from a cat
The Project by Annie Lord (Harvill £16.99, 384pp)
We meet twentysomething Daisy as she is waking up from a one-night-stand with James, a slightly misogynistic university friend she wishes she hadn’t slept with.
The reason Daisy is with James is because she was upset about Fin, a man she has been messaging for months and thought she was falling in love with but who blows hot and cold.
Then Fin debuts a new girlfriend, not long after telling Daisy he needed some space to think. Her best friend Maya tries to console her but Daisy is heartbroken.
Thoroughly disillusioned with modern dating, Daisy and Maya come up with a plan to revolutionise their romantic lives. The plan is called The Project and the man they decide to transform is James. I loved it.
Born Of Guilt by Joanna Elmy (Faber £14.99, 368pp)
Bulgarian Yana hasn’t been living in America for long when she witnesses the aftermath of a near-fatal accident involving a girl not dissimilar to herself.
The girl is lying on the road, reduced to a body. Yana waits for the body to get up, but she doesn’t and the police don’t seem to care that much. One of the girl’s shoes has been flung onto the other side of the road and Yana cannot get this detail out of her mind.
Yana’s domineering mother, Lily, is a doctor in Bulgaria and her father is an often absent, abusive alcoholic.
Yana did not have a happy childhood. But the older she gets, the more she comes to understand her mother and realise they are not too different. Engrossing.