Ladies of the Rachmaninoff Eyes by Henry Van Dyke

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Ladies of the Rachmaninoff Eyes

Laughing through the tears

We’re devotees of the excellent Faber Editions series, dedicated to resurrecting radical novels of the 20th century. New to the list is an American gem, Ladies of the Rachmaninoff Eyes by Henry Van Dyke. This distinctly offbeat 1950s-set drama is told through the eyes of Oliver, a young, gay Black man, who lives with his elderly aunt, Harriet, and her employer of thirty years , Mrs Etta Klein. In a tale that ranges from farce to tragedy (with lashings of rum), Oliver uncovers the truth behind a Klein family suicide, in the company of a sex-mad maid, a shady psychic, and his own beloved volume of Baudelaire’s poems.

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Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima

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Territory of Light

A quietly powerful story of separation

Our nameless narrator’s husband has just announced he is leaving her. Adrift with a three-year old daughter she attempts to rebuild a life, but 1970s Japan is an unforgiving place for divorced women and shame, sadness and responsibility weigh heavily on her. Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima is a strange little book; its quietly powerful, sparse language perfectly captures despair and isolation in the wake of separation.

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Your Life Without Me by James Meek

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Your Life Without Me

The space left by loss and assumptions unchallenged

Mr Burman is a middle-aged widower, still grieving the loss of his wife, Ada, in a car accident. By day he teaches English at a local high school, by night he grapples with the effects of his blood-pressure medication and worrying about his virtual estrangement from daughter, Leila. This low-key existence is shattered when one of Mr Burman’s ex-students, Raf, attempts to blow up St Paul’s cathedral. In Your Life Without Me by James Meek, we follow Mr Burman’s journey to London, where he is intent on visiting Raf in custody and uncovering the truth, in a richly metaphorical story of loss and the passage of time.

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Things - A Story of the Sixties

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Things: A Story of the Sixties

A material world

A 1965 cult read (reimagined for the 21st century by Vincenzo Latronico in his recent excellent novel, Perfection), Things: A Story of the Sixties by Georges Perec is a wry portrayal of post-war materialism. Chronicling the lives of a young Parisian couple, Jérôme and Sylvie, Perec shows us how they are served by their time and place in history. With the advent of mass advertising and the concept of ‘lifestyle’, a desire for stuff and more stuff has been ignited, yet Jéröme and Sylvie are determined not to join the 9 to 5 treadmill. They want to be free but are unaware that there’s always a price to pay.

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Lázár by Nelio Biedermann

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Lázár

Historical riches to rags

Literary sensation Lázár by Nelio Biedermann will be on many TBR lists this summer. His debut historical fiction novel has caused a stir far beyond Hungary, where it’s set, and is a good first stab from the 22-year-old author. It’s the riches to rags story of the aristocratic Lázár family living through the upheavals of the 21st century. Who doesn’t crave a sweeping historical fiction novel? And Biedermann succeeds – almost.

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Permanence by Sophie Mackintosh

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Permanence

An inventive and bittersweet tale of adulterous love

Clara and Francis are lovers, partners in a spectacularly ardent adultery. No strangers to the pleasure of an anonymous hotel room, they go to great lengths to conceal their affair from Francis’s wife and young daughter. One day, the hotel room they wake up in is unfamiliar to them both and they have no recollection of arriving there. In Permanence by Sophie Mackintosh, we’re spirited away to a paradisal parallel world of endless blue skies and aphrodisia, populated entirely by adulterers. Here, Clara and Francis can celebrate their love openly. Is this freedom at last or an uncanny case of be careful what you wish for?

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Backlight by Pirkko Saisio

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Backlight

The comedy of puberty

Prickly Pirkko is in opposition to everyone and everything, above all her cantankerous father and most of her teachers, with the notable exception of her Finnish teacher who seems to spot a glimmer of talent in her student’s writing. Besides, she hates puberty. She seeks out trouble, befriends the wrong kids and is all round a pain in the butt. Backlight by Pirkko Saisio is an autofictional deep dive into the author’s teenage mind which will leave you relieved those years are behind you.

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The Infamous Gilberts by Angela Tomaski

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The Infamous Gilberts

A quirky and original take on the family saga genre

A splendidly eccentric debut novel, The Infamous Gilberts by Angela Tomaski tells the story of the once illustrious Gilbert family through the eyes of their elderly retainer, Maximus. Welcoming the reader as a curious visitor, Maximus takes us to Thornwalk, the now deserted and decaying family estate, his final tour before relinquishing the keys to the inevitable luxury hotel developers. Each room, nook and discarded item he introduces us to prompts revelations of scandal, perfidy, and more than a dash of insanity; the Gilbert loves and losses set against a twentieth-century backdrop defined by the reverberations of war and the decline of the great English country house.

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Audition by Katie Kitamura

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Audition

The performance of a lifetime

Previously Booker Prize shortlisted and now comfortably nestled on the Women’s Prize 2026 longlist, Audition by Katie Kitamura is a tantalisingly oblique read. Exploring the roles we play in life, their often performative nature and how others interpret them, the story centres on an unnamed middle aged woman and a young man. The woman is a successful actress, currently appearing on stage in New York, the young man may well be her lover. Or her son. Perhaps he’s actually an invention. A novel for those who love a challenge, from a writer adept at wrong-footing and disorienting her readers.

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Brawler by Lauren Groff

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Brawler

Hard hitting on good and evil

Anyone who loved the novel Matrix—a book I still think about—will leap at newly published short-story collection Brawler by Lauren Groff. Groff’s incredible range is on full display in this engrossing collection. We travel from the East Coast to Southern California, from Boston aristocracy to Los Angeles trailer parks. The settings vary, but the family troubles remain the same, as does the capacity for both good and evil.

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