52 S MAGAZINE ★ 11 AUGUST 2019
Inland *****
by Téa Obreht
(W&N, £14.99)
Fans of Téa Obreht’s first novel – the Orange
Prize-winning The Tiger’s Wife – have waited
eight long years for her second. Set against
the drought-ridden backdrop of the fin de siècle
American West, Inland centres on two strikingly
different but equally troubled characters whose
lives gradually converge as the novel progresses.
It’s 1893 in the Arizona Territory and Nora
Lark, a frontierswoman, waits for her husband
to return with much-needed water supplies.
Two of her sons have walked out after a row.
Then there’s Lurie Mattie, former grave robber
and highwayman, now an outlawed orphan on
the run after killing a man in New York. Lurie
makes his way slowly across the desiccated
landscape, hiding among the US Army’s Camel
Corps as he tries to escape the Arkansas
marshal determined to hunt him down. As Lurie
treks across the desert talking to his four-
legged companion Burke, Obreht breathes life
into the army’s forgotten attempt to bring
camels to the American West as pack animals.
Both Lurie and Nora are haunted by spirits:
Lurie by the ghosts of his childhood companions;
Nora by the ghost of her daughter Evelyn who
died of heatstroke as a baby.
As Lurie’s epic desert journey draws nearer
to Nora, intrigue builds about how these
disparate characters will meet. When they do,
it defies all expectations in an incandescent
denouement. Set against a backdrop of
hardship and saturated with magic and myth,
this ambitious novel is a modern masterpiece,
culminating in an unforgettable ending.
Rosie HopegoodCharlotte
Heathcote
To p f i v e s
Fiction
Non-fiction
Children’s
- Pinch Of Nom
by Kay Featherstone and
Kate Allinson
(Bluebird, £20) - Time To Eat
by Nadiya Hussain
(Michael Joseph, £20) - Battle Scars
by Jason Fox (Corgi, £8.99) - This Is Going To Hurt
by Adam Kay (Picador, £8.99) - No One Is Too Small
To Make A Difference
by Greta Thunberg
(Penguin, £2.99) - The World’s Worst Teachers
by David Walliams
(HarperCollins, £14.99) - Diary Of An Awesome
Friendly Kid
by Jeff Kinney (Puffin, £12.99) - Bad Dad
by David Walliams & Tony Ross
(HarperCollins, £6.99) - Fing by David Walliams &
Tony Ross (HarperCollins, £12.99) - Harry Potter And The
Philosopher’s Stone
by JK Rowling
(Bloomsbury, £7.99)
Ask Again, Yes *****
by Mary Beth Keane
(Michael Joseph, £14.99)
This story of two families riven by a shocking
tragedy weaves in the cumulative effects of
alcoholism, infidelity, job loss and couples who
split after years together. The result is one of
the most exceptional novels of the summer.
Ask Again, Yes spans four decades and
focuses on two neighbouring families, the
Gleesons and the Stanhopes, who leave
bustling New York for the quiet suburb of Gillam.
Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope are
both police officers and everyone assumes
that their wives will become friends. Lonely
Lena Gleeson does her best to befriend the
unstable, standoffish Anne Stanhope, only
to be rebuffed. But despite Anne’s hostility,
Peter, her only child, and Kate, the Gleesons’
youngest, soon become inseparable friends.
But their relationship begins to shift in their
early teens when, one fateful night, Kate and
Peter sneak out of their houses to meet on their
own. Their parents discover what they have
done and a split second of violence ensues.
The faultline that has divided the families for
years becomes irreparable. Kate and Peter
are banned from seeing each other and Peter
moves to New York to live with his uncle. Even
so, the teenagers cannot forget each other and
their families gradually realise that it’s harder
than they hoped to sever all ties.
Ask Again, Yes has the makings of a future
classic. Keane’s prose is spare and elegant and
she writes about mental illness and alcoholism
with compassion. This novel serves as a
reminder to us all that lives are complicated,
that love can overcome age-old rancour and that
even at the darkest of times redemption is
possible. It’s a remarkable achievement.
Emma Lee-PotterTales of love, betrayal and
shattered relationships
Families
at war
- The Reckoning
by John Grisham
(Hodder, £7.99) - Target
by James Patterson
(Arrow, £8.99) - I Owe You One
by Sophie Kinsella
(Black Swan, £8.99) - The Holiday
by TM Logan
(Zaffre, £7.99) - Absolute Proof
by Peter James
(Macmillan, £8.99)