This summer the books I’m most looking forward to are all long overdue reissues: a novel of Nazi war criminals hiding in 1960s London by one half of everyone’s favourite writer-director-producer duo; the debut novel by giant of Southern literature, Harry Crews, whose work has been long overlooked by UK publishing; Marlen Haushofer’s haunting novel The Wall, which is finally available again thanks to Vintage Classics; one of the first ever group biographies, Alethea Hayter’s portrait of Victorian literary London A Sultry Month; and collected for the first time in one volume, Ursula le Guin’s writings on feminism and gender.
A few new things to look out for as well: Amanda Svensson’s big, playful and very strange A System So Magnificent It Is Blinding, translated by Nichola Smalley; Lillian Fishman’s bold examination of desire and power Acts of Service; and two radical works of non-fiction, Juliet Jacques’s collected trans journalism and Rebecca May Johnson on the revolutionary potential of food and cooking.
Recommended by Gayle
‘The second of two novels written by Emeric Pressburger (of Britain's greatest ever film-making duo Powell and Pressburger), The Glass Pearls tells the story of Karl Braun, a Nazi war criminal hiding in plain sight among the German émigrés of grimy, down-at-heel 1960s London. A properly good thriller that keeps ramping up the tension until the very end.’
From the publisher:
A BRACINGLY ORIGINAL, BOUNDARY BREAKING EXPLORATION OF COOKING AND THE KITCHEN, FROM A RISING STAR IN FOOD WRITING‘A manifesto for reclaiming cooking as an intellectual… a brave, honest book’ SUNDAY TIMES‘An…
From the publisher:
Edited by Sarah Shin and So MayerFor the first time, Space Crone brings together celebrated author Ursula K. Le Guin’s writings on feminism and gender. Witness to the twentieth century’s rebellions and upheavals,…
From the publisher:
Translated by Shaun Whiteside'The air trembled, gold and green and clear, at the edges of the forest'A woman takes a holiday in the Austrian mountains, spending a few days with her cousin and his wife in their hunting lodge. When the couple…
From the publisher:
The poor town of Enigma, Georgia awaits the return of its most famous son - the Gospel Singer. With the voice of an angel and, it is said, the touch of a healer, he is fresh from the cover of LIFE and the cheers of the Carnegie…
From the publisher:
Translated by Nichola Smalley‘A wild 529-page trip … magnificent.’ AMBER MEDLAND, THE TELEGRAPHA joyful family saga about free will, forgiveness, and how we are all interconnected.In October 1989, triplet babies…
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From the publisher:
A seminal collection of journalism on art, politics, and culture, by Juliet Jacques, one of the UK’s most pioneering transgender writers.Juliet Jacques was one of the first trans writers in the UK to contribute broadly to both British…
From the publisher:
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2022 - BuzzFeed, LitHub"Thoughtful, savage eye." RAVEN LEILANI, author of LUSTER"Radical, daring and bracing." SHEILA HETI, author of MOTHERHOOD and PURE COLOURA provocative debut…
From the publisher:
Wine and dine with Victorian London’s literati in a heatwave in one of the first ever group biographies, introduced by Francesca Wade (author of Square Haunting).Though she loved the heat she could do nothing but lie on the sofa…
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