2917 July 2021 THE WEEKReview of reviews: BooksARTSThe best newly published holiday reads, based on summer round-ups in the pressKlara and
the Sun
byKazuoIshiguro
Faber £20 (£15.99)
KazuoIshiguro’sfirst
novelsince winning
the NobelPrize is
“set in an uneasy
near-future,in
which AIand
genetic enhancement
threaten to createahuman underclass”,
saidTheGuardian.Ittellsthe storyof a
robot who becomes an “artificial friend”
to asickly teenager.Klara andthe Sunis
a“slow-burn masterpiece”,saidthe FT
–abrilliant examination of what itmeans
to be human.
The
Passenger
byUlrich
Alexander
Boschwitz
Pushkin Press
£14.99 (£11.99)
This “dramatic
thriller”–first
published in 1939 and
recently rediscovered–tells the storyofa
Jewishbusinessmanontheruninsidepre-
war Germany, said The Times.Tryingto
fleethe Nazis,hecriss-crossesGermany by
train–but realises that allexits areclosed.
“Stunning,” said AlecRussell in theFT –
“easily” mybook of theyear.Girl A
byAbigailDean
HarperCollins
£14.99 (£11.99)
Lexisasuccessful
New York lawyer,
butas achildshe
livedinnorthern
England,in ahome
wheresheandher
siblingssuffered
horrific abuse, saidThe Sunday Times.
AbigailDean’s novel–aglobalbestseller –
charts Lex’straumatic confrontationwith
the past. “Girl Ahadmefrompage one,”
said Sophie Warburton in TheSunday
Telegraph.“Flippingbetweenpastand
present, it hastwistsandturns aplenty.”Fall
byJohnPreston
Viking £18.99
(£14.99)
John Preston’s
biography offers an
“entertaining account
of thelifeanddeath
of RobertMaxwell”,
saidTheGuardian.
It chartsthepress
baron’s“vast appetites”andambitions,
hisfraudulentfinancialdealings(which
included raidinghiscompany’spension
funds), andhis 1991 disappearance from
hisyacht. By turns amusing,engrossing
and appalling,this excellent book “slips
down as richly, easilyand pleasurably as
atablespoonful of Belugacaviar”,said
Robert HarrisinThe Sunday Times.
The Sleeping
Beauties
bySuzanne
O’Sullivan
Picador £16.99
(£13.99)
This “extraordinary
book”bythe
neurologistSuzanne
O’Sullivanexamines
themysterious world of psychosomatic
illnesses, said The Times. The title refers to
“resignationsyndrome”,aconditionnoted
in the1990s when agroup ofgirlsin
Stockholm–all a sylum seekers–suddenly
fel linto catatonicstates. O’Sullivan’s
examination of what is sometimes called
“masshysteria” is “mind-blowing” in
every sense, saidTheDaily Telegraph.Hurdy Gurdy
byChristopher
Wilson
Faber £14.99
(£11.99)
In this “comic novel
of medievalEngland
struckbythe Black
Death”, Brother
Diggory, an
unworldlyyoung monk,venturesoutside
his monasteryforthe first time, said The
Times.Hetravels the country engaging
in godless behaviour–and unwittingly
spreadingthe plague.Wilson’s novel is
a“winningblend ofdrama, farceand
grotesquerie”, said theFT–and a
reminderof “justhow bloody awful
everyday medievallife musthave been”.Shuggie Bain
byDouglas
Stuart
Picador £8.99
(£6.99)
Last year’s Booker
Prize-winner is “not
your classicbeach
read”, saidthe
LondonEvening
Standard.But“it’s witty,movingand
unforgettable”. Setin 1980sGlasgow,
this debutnovel is thebleakbuttender
storyofayoung man’stroubled
relationship with hisalcoholic mother.
An “astonishing portrait, drawn from
life”,Shuggie Baindeservesallthe acclaim
it hashad,said TheDaily Telegraph.
Agent Sonya
byBen
Macintyre
Penguin £8.99
(£6.99)
BenMacintyre’s
latest chroniclesthe
“extraordinary
career” of Soviet
secretagent Ursula
Kuczynski, said The Sunday Times.
Recruitedin theFar Eastin the1930s,
shesettledin Britain, whereshe posedas
arespectable Cotswolds housewife;but
as an agenthandler,shesecurednuclear
secrets that helped Stalin developan
atomicbomb.AgentSonyais the “ultimate
spystor y”,said The Tablet.British
Summer Time
Begins
byYsenda
MaxtoneGraham
Abacus £9.99
(£7.99)
This “amusing
compendiumof
memories ofold-
fashionedholidays” is especially pertinent
in ayearwhen many of us will be staying
in Britain, saidThe Sunday Times.The
sodden beaches, freezing picnics and
sickeningcar journeys: Maxtone Graham
bringsitall back,saidFerdinandMountin
the Daily Mail. Anyone over 40 will come
awaysaying:“Yes,thatwas us.”
To order these titles from The Week Bookshop at the bracketed price, contact 020-3176 3835, theweekbookshop.co.ukPaperbacksHardbacks