British Vogue - 10.2019

(Amelia) #1

THE LEAVES


ARE TURNING


This autumn, some of fiction’s
greatest female authors
make a return to the page.
By Hayley Maitland

A R TS & C U LT U R E



  1. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
    Patchett well deserves her reputation for compelling novels,
    and The Dutch House is her most enthralling yet. Set over
    three generations, this family saga starts with a mother’s
    decision to abandon her husband and children in their
    run-down mansion in post-war Philadelphia. Later, her son
    Danny, now a parent himself, is determined to understand
    why – an investigation that pulls him back again and again
    to the mysterious home of his youth.
    Published on 24 September (Bloomsbury, £19)

  2. The Man Who Saw Everything
    by Deborah Levy
    Man Booker-shortlisted Deborah Levy makes a stunning
    return to fiction after her 2019 bestselling autobiography,
    The Cost of Living. Her subject this time is history itself,
    personified by the self-obsessed young academic Saul Adler,
    who takes a research assignment in Germany just before
    the Berlin Wall comes down. Drawn into the dangerous
    world of a translator and his sister, plus a hippy Stasi agent,
    the choices Adler makes shape the rest of his life – and
    history on the world stage.
    Out now (Hamish Hamilton, £15)

  3. Akin by Emma Donoghue
    Noah is a retired university professor planning to spend his
    80th birthday on the French Riviera, digging into his family
    history. His great-nephew Michael is an 11-year-old with
    psychological issues and a mother in jail. Through a twist
    of fate, Noah and Michael find themselves travelling together
    to Nice, where Noah’s investigation threatens to destroy his
    sense of self – even as he forges a surprising relationship
    with his charge. Highly emotional but never sentimental.
    Published on 3 October (Picador, £17)
    6. Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout
    In the sequel to her Pulitzer Prize-winning Olive Kitteridge,
    Elizabeth Strout returns to the fictional seaside town of
    Crosby in Maine to pick up the commonplace lives of its
    provincial residents. Matriarch Olive, now retired and
    considering a second marriage, remains pragmatic: “Well,
    that’s life... Nothing you can do about it.” Full of empathy,
    Strout’s writing is as remarkable and moving as ever.
    Published on 31 October ( Viking, £15)

  4. The Confession by Jessie Burton
    In 1980, 20-year-old Elise, a life model for the RCA, meets
    36-year-old writer Connie, a “defiant act of a redhead”, and
    follows her to Los Angeles, where she’s working on a film
    adaptation. As their romance sours amid the glamour of
    Hollywood, Elise makes a catastrophic decision. Stylish and
    riveting, Burton’s latest is every bit as gripping as The
    Miniaturist, the 2014 debut that made her name.
    Published on 19 September (Picador, £17)
    5. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
    In her 1985 masterpiece The Handmaid ’s Tale, Atwood eerily
    foreshadowed the 21st century’s assault on women’s sexual
    and reproductive freedoms, as seen through the eyes of
    protagonist Offred in the repressive state of Gilead. Set 15
    years later, The Testaments weaves together the accounts of
    three women who have only ever known life under the brutal
    regime. The resistance, however, is about to begin.
    Published on 10 September (Chatto & Windus, £20)


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