THE LEAVES
ARE TURNING
This autumn, some of fiction’s
greatest female authors
make a return to the page.
By Hayley MaitlandA R TS & C U LT U R E
- 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) - 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) - 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) - 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)
LINA SCHEYNIUS
135
10-19-FOB-AutumnBooks.indd 135 20/08/2019 12:30