This week we feature a 1920s British mobster caper; a magical novel filled with second chances, ancestral magic and folklore; and Veronica Roth’s new dystopian adventure
Shrines of Gaiety ★★★★★
Kate Atkinson
Double Day
Atkinson’s latest is a 1920s British mobster caper of delight. The large cast of captivating characters orbits around Nellie “Ma” Coker, inspired by real-life Queen of Soho Kate Meyrick. With ruthless wit and a side of criminality, the single mother of six rose from destitution to become the queenpin of London’s underground nightclub scene. But to hold on to her throne, Nellie must navigate a world of crooked cops, murdered dancing girls, card sharks, villainous Pierrots and a librarian. Atkinson masterfully balances entertainment with exposing the true filth of humanity. — Tiah Beautement
Click here to buy a copy of Shrines of Gaiety.
Spells for Forgetting ★★★★
Adrienne Young
Quercus
Emery Blackwood and her boyfriend August Salt are young and in love. They have big dreams, but when her best friend, Lily, is found dead and August is accused of her murder, Emery’s life is turned upside down. Fast-forward to years later and Emery is still living in Saoirse Island, running the family business — something she had promised herself she would never do. Her life lost and her dreams quelled, Emery comes face to face with August when he returns to bury his mother’s ashes. August must face a community that still holds him accountable for Lily’s death. Dark secrets emerge. Filled with ancestral magic, folklore and second chances, this novel is perfect if you want to escape and be filled with a little bit of magic. — Jessica Levitt
Click here to buy a copy of Spells for Forgetting.
Poster Girl ★★★★
Veronica Roth
Hodder & Stoughton
When Roth published her debut novel Divergent in 2011, she established herself well and truly as a dystopian fiction queen. She’s been honing her craft since and her latest dystopia is a future Seattle overrun with tech. Sonya lives in the Aperture, a political prison for sympathisers of the surveillance state of the now-toppled Delegation. Her father, mother and sister are dead and she will live here until she dies. But then she’s given an offer: find a missing girl taken from her parents under the Delegation and win her freedom. The novel is slow to start but rich with imaginative description. Once the story unfurls it is a whirlwind of a read through which Sonya’s nuanced character becomes the protagonist you’ve been wanting to root for all along. — Sanet Oberholzer
Click here to buy a copy of Poster Girl.
