POPULAR FICTION
THIS IS YESTERDAY
THIS IS YESTERDAY by Rose Ruane (Corsair £14.99, 320 pp)
by Rose Ruane (Corsair £14.99, 320 pp)
This stunningly written debut timeslips between a present-day hospital ward and the summer of 1994.
Her father’s serious accident summons Peach, a drifting forty-something London gallery assistant, to a somewhat awkward family reunion.
Relations are especially tricky with her sister, successful, beautiful, ultra-bad-tempered Bella.
Gradually, the reader discovers why; Peach and Bella have always competed over men. But there are other mysteries, too.
What happened that dreadful summer? What’s the real connection between their mother and a famous artist?
We do find out, but the real subject of this enjoyably disturbing book is being a hormonal school-leaver in a dead-end town who feels all the real action is elsewhere.
A RUN IN THE PARK
by David Park (Bloomsbury £10, 112 pp)
A RUN IN THE PARK by David Park (Bloomsbury £10, 112 pp)
Ever wondered what people are thinking as they power past you in their Lycra and Fitbits?
Among the running group in this novella; Brendan and Angela want to get honeymoon-ready, Maurice wants to avoid a heart attack, Cathy wants to stop worrying about her daughter and Yana, a refugee, wants to feel less of a stranger in a foreign land.
Their stories interweave as the group help each other, understand various truths and reach a happy resolution.
Their personal journeys, in other words, aren’t just round the eponymous park.
I loved this book; short, moving, funny, positive and beautifully written.
It made me want to take up running myself. Almost.
THE END OF THE OCEAN
by Maja Lunde (Scribner £16.99, 416 pp)
THE END OF THE OCEAN by Maja Lunde (Scribner £16.99, 416 pp)
As writers should write novels about the great themes of their times, it’s surprising there are so few about climate change.
Perhaps more are on their way. For now, we have this story about a threatened global water shortage from the author of the bestselling The History of Bees.
The tale of a present-day Norwegian eco-campaigner outraged by the destruction of a glacier intersects with that of a French father and daughter struggling to survive in the overheated future.
Sounds dire, I know, but it isn’t.
As elderly Signe (glacier) sets sail in her beloved boat, we learn what life events made her an activist while young David and Lou (future) find camaraderie and even love in the horrid refugee camps for those hit by eco-disaster.
Not a comfortable read but an important one.