Beautifully written and full of emotional wisdom: The best Contemporary novels out now –
Rebel English Academy by Mohammed Hanif (Grove Press £16.99, 320pp)
This is the Pakistani author’s fourth novel and the narrative is set at a difficult time in Pakistan’s history. The context is life under martial law in the late 1970s and the story opens at a prison as preparations are taken before the hanging of a high-profile, out-of-favour politician.
A disgraced intelligence officer is on the scene, carrying out a top-secret mission, but he angers his superiors who send him to OK Town, a sleepy posting that no one wants, as punishment.
However, things soon become chaotic as supporters of the executed politician start to express their rage.
Not long after the hanging, an unexpected young female guest also shows up at the Rebel English Academy a few miles away. These interconnected characters face the dissent and violence of the changing political landscape as Pakistan moves towards modernity. Compelling.
Paper Cut by Rachel Taff (Corvus £16.99, 304pp)
Paper Cut is available now
Lucy Golden became an unlikely hero and true crime icon at the age of 16, after killing someone whilst escaping from a Californian desert cult led by her father.
Now living with her famous photographer mother, it’s nearly 20 years since she published a best-selling memoir about her experiences and she’s feeling pressure to remain relevant.
When a hotshot director offers to make a documentary about her, Lucy agrees – hoping it will silence her critics and shut down the relentless online trolling she faces.
The story moves forwards in two timelines where Lucy’s present day alternates with chapters from her memoir, recounting the official version of what happened in the desert when she fled. It soon turns out that the unauthorised reality is somewhat different from what she published. I raced through this twisty, addictive thriller.
Follow Her by Anna Stothard (Lake Union £8.99, 301pp)
Follow Her is available now
Doctor’s wife Zoe is approached in her seaside town by a journalist who asks what she knows about Frida, a famous spiritual influencer.
Zoe says she doesn’t know anyone by that name but when the journalist shows Zoe a photo of her and Frida together, she reluctantly agrees to talk to him.
The picture was taken a decade before and Zoe hasn’t seen Frida since. When the journalist tells Zoe that the remains of two other girls in the photo have recently been found on the same island, she is plunged straight back into the toxic world of twisted obsession she has fought so hard to leave behind. Beautifully written and full of emotional wisdom. I loved it.