The Children's Bach by Helen Garner

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The Children’s Bach

Domesticity and desire in suburban Melbourne

The splendid W&N Essentials series is a carefully curated collection of books considered to have stood the test of time, and been adored by their first readers. The Children’s Bach by Helen Garner is one of its brightest stars, a spare and fearless novel, highly acclaimed in the author’s native Australia in 1984, but curiously, only now feeling the love in the U.K. Set in suburban Melbourne in the early 1980’s, it’s the story of Dexter and Athena Fox and some blast-from-the past visitors, whose presence causes the Fox’s cosy domesticity to unravel into fantasy, escapism, and moral dilemma.

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Gabriel's Moon by William Boyd

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Gabriel’s Moon

A useful idiot

In Gabriel’s Moon by William Boyd a trip to Congo and an unexpected interview with the president throws travel writer Gabriel Dax into a maelstrom of espionage and counterespionage.  Congo’s president is assassinated soon after the interview and Gabriel possesses, unknowingly, information that reveal the perpetrator and the sinister geo-political game that lies behind. For reasons I can’t explain, I’ve never read anything by William Boyd. It’s clearly been my loss.

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A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez

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A Sunny Place for Shady People

A dozen disquieting tales

Designed to provoke shock, discomfort, and debate, A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez is a new collection of short stories from the Argentinian queen of Latin American Gothic. Enriquez’s macabre tales centre around the very notion of haunting, be it literal, or a manifestation of psychic or societal trauma. From one woman’s infatuation with her surgically removed fibroid to a community of birds who were once unruly women, Enriquez interweaves mythology, history, and the darkest imaginings, in her exploration of horror and humanity.

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The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

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The Safekeep

Mesmerising debut of displacement and desire

Marvellously, an unparalleled five of the six titles shortlisted for this year’s Booker Prize are by female writers. One of them is also a debut novel, a remarkable achievement for The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden. Set in a sleepy Dutch province in the early 1960’s, this meticulously plotted story introduces us to Isabel, an uptight young woman leading a lonely existence as the sole inhabitant of her childhood home. Her life is set to be irrevocably altered one sultry summer, when an uninvited guest moves in, disrupting Isabel’s quiet days of ‘small moments,’ and forcing her to confront some uncomfortable truths.

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The Night of the Hunter by Davis Grubb

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The Night of the Hunter

A deliciously eerie slice of period piece Americana

Brooding 1953 cult favourite, The Night of the Hunter by Davis Grubb is perhaps better known for its darkly expressionistic film adaptation, starring Robert Mitchum. For film fans seeking out the book, Mitchum’s charismatic, menacing performance as Harry Powell, self-proclaimed preacher and depraved soul, inevitably sears itself onto the page, a character with evil intent from the moment we first meet him, plotting to lay his hands on a bank robber’s loot. In Grubb’s nightmarish Southern Gothic cat-and-mouse tale, a classic contest of good versus evil is underway, as the preacher’s predilection for seduction, theft and murder is resisted by a lionhearted boy and his little sister.

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Anatomy of a Disappearance by Hisham Matar

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Anatomy of a Disappearance

Quietly moving on a brutal kidnapping

Nuri is 14 when his father disappears under mysterious circumstances. Abdu, an ex-minister in an unnamed country’s government and a confidant to the fallen King, is kidnapped from his mistress’ flat, never to be seen again. Nuri is left with no family except young step-mother Mona, whom Nuri has a crush on, and more questions than answers. Anatomy of a Disappearance by Hisham Matar is a beautiful and quietly brutal coming-of-age story, dealing with loss and father-son relationships.

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Dead-End Memories by Banana Yoshimoto

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Dead-End Stories

Short stories to gladden the heart

An offbeat and lovely addition to the world of short story collections, Dead-End Stories by Banana Yoshimoto is, in essence, a tribute to hope, light, and resilience. The women in each of her five stories experience episodes of emotional pain or trauma, from the extremes of abuse and murder, to the heartbreak inflicted by an inconstant lover. In Yoshimoto’s tender hands, ultimately these events will not be allowed to warp and embitter, as each character is set on a path towards acknowledgement of life’s random cruelties and a final blessing of solace and clarity.

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Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake

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Entangled Life

A fungus for every occasion

If thoughts about fungi ever flit through your mind, chances are it’s in reference to last night’s truffle risotto dinner, or perhaps, less fortunately, a bout of Athlete’s Foot or spreading spores on your bathroom ceiling. The splendid Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake is here to bedazzle your uninformed brain, as both a scientific exploration and all-round appreciation of fungi as ‘regenerators, recyclers, and networkers that stitch worlds together’. From medicinal aides to mind-controlling zombie types, there’s a fungus for every occasion; they are sophisticated, problem-solving survivors and our world would collapse without them.

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Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

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Long Island Compromise

Screamingly funny satire on wealth and privilege

When Carl Fletcher, styrofoam factory owner and one of Long Island’s richer residents, is kidnapped from his driveway one morning, life changes forever for the Fletcher family. Carl is returned unhurt, at least physically, in exchange for a large pile of cash placed on a baggage carousel at La Guardia airport, but the kidnapping still reverberates decades later. His three children have turned out deeply dysfunctional, each in their own way. Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner is an extremely funny satire and deep dive into privilege, Jewish identity and a spot-on comment on how we live now.

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