Featured image: Lucy Vincent & Bradley Sansom
In the thick of piled-up essays and loaded classwork, as well as adjusting to a bustling new city, it’s a good idea to take some downtime to yourself and get lost in another world. To help you find a new book to get lost in, we’ve compiled a range of recently released reads we think you’ll love.
MY DAUGHTER’S KILLER by Jacqueline Grima
My Daughter’s Killer is a feminist domestic thriller written by Manchester Writing School alumna and former aAh! student editor-in-chief, Jacqueline Grima. Two years after her daughter, Sarah, was supposedly murdered by her husband, a grieving mother, Claire, spends her evenings running a helpline for vulnerable women. The thing is, Sarah’s body was never found and now a caller to the helpline is claiming to know what really happened to her. This one is sure to keep you on the very edge of your seat.
THE FRAUD by Zadie Smith
English writer, Zadie Smith, has returned with her first historical novel based on real events in Kilburn in 1873. It’s here that the sceptical Mrs Eliza Touchet is at odds with the ‘Tichborne Trial’ along with the rest of England, who can’t tell if the defendant is an imposter or not. The star witness, Andrew Bogle, is tasked with telling the right story as his future depends on it. Dealing with deciding the truth, and the hypocrisy and self-deception behind it, The Fraud is nothing short of remarkable.
YELLOWFACE by R.F. Kuang
Satirising racial diversity in the publishing industry and social media, American fantasy writer Rebecca F. Kuang takes a stab at literary fiction with Yellowface. We follow the story of June Hayward, who is accused of cultural appropriation and plagiarism after she takes control of and publishes the book of a dead Chinese-American classmate, creating ambiguity over her own race and trying to present herself as Asian to the public. How far will June go to keep what she has stolen?
NORTH WOODS by Daniel Mason
In North Woods, Pulitzer Prize finalist, Daniel Mason, writes about the history of a single house in the woods, following the vastly different occupants of the house over four centuries as they unearth the house’s past. The book follows how history changes nature, language, and perspectives on the world, and how each person’s history intertwines with each other. If you’re looking for a mesmerising tale, this one is sure to put you under its spell.
PENANCE by Eliza Clark
For true and fictional crime fans alike, Eliza Clark’s “untrue true crime” story, as coined by The Spectator, will grip you to the very end. It tackles the ethics and truths behind true crime media by following a journalist’s unreliable account as he compiles different interviews, accounts, and statements on the murder of a 16-year-old in a quiet English seaside town. Penance is Clark’s second book, who has also been named one of Granta’s 2023 Best Young British Novelists.
Did your favourite make the list? Tell us what you’re reading @aAh_mag
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