‘Funny, heartwarming and readable’: the best Debut fiction out this month – ALL THE OTHER
All The Other Mothers Hate Me is available now from the Mail Bookshop
All The Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman (4th Estate £16.99, 320pp)
Florence was once in a band but her glittering career disintegrated – now she’s a struggling single mother.
Although broke, her wealthy ex insists on sending their son Dylan to the same prep school he went to. American-abroad Florence doesn’t feel she fits in with the mothers at the school gate financially or culturally.
Things get a lot worse when Alfie, a boy who bullies Dylan, goes missing on a school trip.
Dylan becomes the prime suspect and Florence is worried the perpetrator is indeed her beloved son. She has no detective skills, but she simply has to find Alfie before it’s too late. Funny, heartwarming and readable.
Mum turns detective to clear son’s name
Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis (W&N £16.99, 336pp)
Academic Nadia works in Iraq for a UN programme rehabilitating ISIS brides. She left London after going through a breakup and being disowned by her religious mother. When Nadia meets Sara, an east Londoner who joined ISIS at only 15 years old, they form a strong friendship. The two share similar personalities and Nadia wants to help. I rooted for them from the start.
This is a truly original novel – I don’t think I’ve ever read anything funny about ISIS brides or religious fundamentalism but this was a treat.
It’s great on judgments, friendship and trying to do the right thing. Amazing. I couldn’t put it down.
Life Hacks for a Little Alien is available now from the Mail Bookshop
Life Hacks for a Little Alien by Alice Franklin (riverrun £16.99, 304pp)
The Little Alien of the title is our protagonist, a young neurodivergent girl who finds the world a confusing, disappointing place.
Little Alien can’t understand how to connect with other people. She struggles to talk and express her thoughts and opinions.
It’s heartbreaking reading about how difficult her parents find the situation and how little help they receive.
Little Alien watches a TV documentary about the Voynich Manuscript – an indecipherable tome that one professor believed to be extra-terrestrial.
Little Alien becomes obsessed with it, always thinking about what words are and what it means to understand them.
This obsession opens up her life in unexpected ways, not least cementing a beautiful friendship with a like-minded soul. Thought-provoking.