by Shelley Parker-Chan

Mantle

SPONSORED: Not reviewed by Need a Read

An absorbing historical fantasy, She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan reimagines the rise to power of the Ming Dynasty’s founding emperor.

In a famine-stricken village on a dusty plain, a seer shows two children their fates. For a family’s eighth-born son, there’s greatness. For the second daughter, nothing.

In 1345, China lies restless under harsh Mongol rule. And when a bandit raid wipes out their home, the two children must somehow survive. Zhu Chongba despairs and gives in. But the girl resolves to overcome her destiny. So she takes her dead brother’s identity and begins her journey. Can Zhu escape what’s written in the stars, as rebellion sweeps the land? Or can she claim her brother’s greatness – and rise as high as she can dream?

This is a glorious tale of love, loss, betrayal and triumph by a powerful new voice.

‘This audacious, brilliant debut is a vivid, original reimagining . . . Peopled by flawed, fearless characters and with a dramatically violent storyline, this is immersive storytelling at its finest’ – Daily Mail

‘A thoroughly engrossing read with a fabulous, tragic-trickster protagonist . . . I’ve been waiting for a book like this’ – Megan Campisi, author of Sin Eater

‘A dazzling new world of fate, war, love and betrayal’ – Zen Cho, author of Black Water Sister

by Charlotte Bauer

Atlantic Books

“Youth, after all, is a passing phase, and by the time most of us notice we have it, it has gone.”

You’ll probably recognise the name Charlotte Bauer.  She’s a prize-winning journalist and was a senior editor of the South African Sunday Times for many years.   This is her deliciously funny, sympathetic and wise guide to midlife – an unscientific, flaws-and-all account of one woman’s adventures and misadventures and of learning to wean herself off youth!

Through her own experiences as a fifty-something woman, and those of her three sisters, her indomitable mum and rebellious auntie, Charlotte tackles the big questions every woman of a certain age seeks answers to –  health, identity, work, vanity, face-lifts, hair, fashion, fury and relationships are all examined and scrutinised with humour and care as Charlotte learns to be happy in her skin (even if it’s not as firm as it once was).

Her final piece of advice is for readers to start a highly liberating fuck-it list (as we’re too young for a bucket list) – a list of things you don’t want to do, probably never wanted to do and refuse to ever do again.   Great advice!   Do watch this fab video clip of Charlotte in her own words. https://twitter.com/i/status/1419983152521654273

by Futhi Nthingila

Pan Macmillan

In the devastatingly polarised world we live in with politicians and activists hell-bent on maintaining an “us vs them” culture, this book successfully and refreshingly shines a light on our shared humanity.   Through two characters who have lead diametrically opposed lives, brainwashed by the thinking of the times (as suggested by the title), the author focusses on what brings us together in a heart-warming and uplifting read.

They Got to You Too is the deeply humane and thought-provoking story of Hans van Rooyen, a former police general and a product of his time who finds himself being cared for in an old age home by the daughter of liberation struggle activists.

At 80, he carries with him the memories of crimes he committed as an officer under the apartheid government. Having eluded the public confessions at the TRC for his time in the Border Wars, he retained his position in the democratic South Africa, serving as an institutional memory for a new generation of police recruits.

Zoe Zondi is tasked to care for the old man. Her gentle and compassionate nature prompts Hans to change his mind about going to the grave with all his secrets. She has her own harrowing life story to tell and, as their unlikely bond deepens, strengthened by the isolation that COVID-19 lockdown brings, they provide a safe space for each other to say the things that would have otherwise been left unsaid.

They Got to You Too is not flawless, but it’s 180 pages are thought-provoking, rightly touching many a South African nerve and yet leaving the reader feeling enlightened and hopeful.  Thank you Futhi.

Listen to this excellent interview that Futhi Ntshingila did on 702 with Refiloe Mpakanyane. 

Futhi Ntshingila is a brilliant storyteller. The way in which she inhabits each character, portrays the inescapable inter-relatedness of humans and weaves the different layers of quite disparate lives is nothing short of magic – Dr Sindiwe Magona

Just the right fiction for our troubled time; it reminds us of the many shades of human that stretch between the binaries of black and white, rich and poor in South Africa. – Heather Robertson

by Karen Jennings

Karavan Press

In only 165 pages, SA author, Karen Jennings’s chilling little book has managed to capture the phycological damage caused to one man – and, by implication, thousands of others – by the rollercoaster ride of living a life of oppression under colonial rule, followed by the euphoria of Independence and then being plunged back into oppression, this time under the rule of corrupt politicians and dictators.

Set over the course of just four days and on a fictitious island somewhere off the coast of Africa, An Island introduces us to Samuel who is content with his solitary lighthouse keeper’s life away from humanity. He is disciplined in his daily routine, keeping the crumbling lighthouse going, tending his vegetable patch and caring for his chickens.   But his solitude is disrupted when he finds the body of a young man washed up on the shore – unconscious but alive.

The arrival of this stranger who speaks an incomprehensible foreign language unnerves Samuel.  Is he a friend or foe?  Refugee or fugitive?  The aging Samuel cannot tell if he can trust the man.  He is forced to revisit long-buried, painful memories and prejudices of his life on the mainland, including 25 years he served in prison for being caught up in the fervour of mob violence.   Through Samuel’s flashbacks, the author explores the devastating effects of colonialism, corruption, dictators, xenophobia and the fear of other and even the effects of global warming. The plight of refugees, of not belonging and the question of who owns the land all feature. “No man is an island” John Dunne’s classic poem lies at the base of this book and along with the many other famous island tales like Robinson Crusoe and Lord of the Flies, the image of an island simply and succinctly gets the point across.

Long-listed for the 2021 Booker Prize, An Island is not a comfortable read but its simple language delivers its powerful, hard-hitting message carefully and with sensitivity.  You won’t get it out of your mind.  Incredibly illuminating and worth reading.  I hope An Island makes its way onto the high school literature curriculum.

This allegoric tale could be read as a warning of the long-lasting impact of fear, violence, depravity and poverty and, indeed, the role isolation plays in feeding those conditions – SA Sunday Times

An Island is a small but powerful book, with the reach of a more capacious work, compounding merciless political critique and allegory rendered in tender prose. – The Guardian

Exquisite in its simplicity – Nancy Richards, Woman Zone

This is a book that gives us faith that the Booker prize judges are doing their job… the dark horse of the longlist, released quietly by a micro-publisher, unreviewed in the press until now, so it shows the judges aren’t just guided by big names. –  London Sunday Times

“The far southern extremities of our planet produce remarkable, distilled, and ravaged tales. An Island has to be counted as among the most remarkable of these. Karen Jennings offers a chilling, immersive portrait of Samuel, a lighthouse keeper on a remote island off the African continent. He is a man at the edge of history, until the arrival of a refugee stranger returns him to everything he most needs to forget. A gripping, terrifying and unforgettable story.”  — Elleke Boehmer

by Jessica Anya Blau

Custom House

In 1970s Baltimore, fourteen-year-old Mary Jane lives an extremely ordered life under the shadow of her conservative, conventional, respectable parents.   She loves cooking with her mother, singing in her church choir, and listening to Broadway show tunes. Shy, quiet, and bookish, she’s relieved not to have to go to summer camp when she lands a job as a nanny for the daughter of a local doctor. A respectable job, Mary Jane’s mother says, in a respectable house.

The house may look respectable on the outside, but inside it’s anything but: clutter on every surface, no routine, hollering, public displays of affection, nudity and horror of horrors, cereal and  takeout for dinner!  Imagine Mary Jane’s shock at meeting Dr Cone with his huge side burns (“tufty goaty things that crawled down his face”), Mrs Cone with her nipples showing through her blouse (hard to tell if it was a long silk blouse or a short silk dress) and her breasts usually on the verge of being exposed and their cute little whirlwind daughter who more often than not wanders around in the nude.   And even more troublesome (were Mary Jane’s mother to know, which she definitely does not): The doctor is a psychiatrist who has cleared his summer for one important job—helping a famous rock star dry out.

Over the course of the summer, Mary Jane introduces her new household to a bit of order – ironed clothes, clean carpets and a family dinner schedule – and in return has a spectacularly enlightening front-row seat to a liberal world of sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll.  She is introduced to the “wrong” side of town, the joys of eating out, spontaneously singing the hits of the day as well as prejudices she’d never consciously recognised.  And she discovers that her own name, Mary Jane, is another word for marijuana!  Caught between the strait-laced lifestyle she’s always known and the progressive future she’s only just realized is possible, Mary Jane will arrive at September with a completely new idea about what she wants out of life.

As light and delicious as a chocolate chip cookie, complete with nuggety bits and burnt edges!  So much fun!

I dare you to find a more winning novel than Jessica Anya Blau’s Mary Jane. Filled with humour and sharpness and so much light, this book introduces an amazing cast of characters, all so unique and finely observed, held together by the clarity of Mary Jane’s voice. It evokes those rare moments when your world is on the precipice of change, almost a dream, and how thrilling it is to push your way toward something new. – Kevin Wilson. Author of Nothing to See Here

Delightful…Blau is a deft hand with comic juxtaposition and domestic fantasy. She keeps it light, she keeps it moving and she’s got terrific visuals…You can watch the movie in your mind. Lady Gaga as Sheba? I’m already casting it. – New York Times Book Review

I LOVED Jessica Anya Blau’s novel. Mary Jane is about an oppressed  teenager being given a jolt of life and joy by an eccentric found family of therapists, a child, a rock star and a movie star in the 1970s….If you have ever sung along to a hit on the radio, in any decade, then you will devour Mary Jane at 45rpm. – Nick Hornby

by Sally Rooney

faber & faber

It’s no secret – I am a huge Sally Rooney fan!   Normal People has triggered so many interesting conversations and this new book is no different.  Genius at portraying complicated humans and missed connections, Sally Rooney has her finger on the pulse of young people terrified of saying what they really feel, or knowing what they really feel, afraid of looking like a fool and being exposed on social media.  She captures conflicts between friends and lovers so well and seems to have a fresh take on life in the 2020’s for millennials – not surprising as she’s only just turned 30 herself.  Although the themes she covers are universal, the book is very delightfully Irish.  It sold over 40,000 copies in its first week!  I loved it.

Alice, a best-selling novelist (fame has taken her by surprise and she’s not quite managing it), meets Felix, who works in a warehouse (a rebel without a cause), and asks him if he’d like to travel to Rome with her. In Dublin, her best friend, Eileen in a dead-end job (who can’t understand why Alice wants to live in a small seaside town and not Dublin) is getting over a break-up and slips back into flirting with Simon (a saver of the world’s lost lambs), a man she has known and who has been kind to her since childhood.

Alice, Felix, Eileen, and Simon are still young―but life is catching up with them. They desire each other, they delude each other, they get together, they break apart. They have sex, they worry about sex, they worry about their friendships and the world they live in. Alice and Eileen, who’s friendship is being tested, reach out to each other in long, meandering emails about their lives, their loves, their issues, their worries, their quest for success and the latest global concerns which threaten to overwhelm them.

The title, Beautiful World, Where Are You, is a literal translation from a Friedrich Schiller’s poem published in 1788.  Apparently, the poem laments the passing of a supposedly happier, carefree life, moving into a new age of greater hardship.  Rooney’s gift is that she makes the reader care deeply about her characters.  I suspect, like me, you’ll be willing them to make the right decisions, to say what they’re really feeling and to take a leap of faith.  Will they find a way to believe in a beautiful world?

It’s a testament to Rooney’s curious, cerebral gifts as a writer that she not only draws her readers into tolerating long stretches of ruminations but makes them so entertaining. We feel we’re in good company with our own end-time anxieties . . . In this ambitious novel of sentiment and ideas, which is so up to the minute in its global concerns, Rooney ironically reaches back to one of the oldest forms of the novel, the epistolary or letter form, to tell her story. – NPR

The book moved me to tears more than once – The Times (UK)

a touching honesty and truthfulness in these pages, along with a quiet brilliance. – Financial Times

Rooney is masterful at finding profound meaning in the quotidian, in ramping up the tension and heightening the stakes in the most microscopic of interactions. The pages fly as fast as in any thriller to find out if these four young adults can figure out how and why to live. – USA Today

Rooney’s new book may just cement her status as a leading voice of the millennial generation – Harper’s Bazaar 

by Anthony Doerr

4th Estate

Oh, the joy of this wonderful new read from Anthony Doerr who won the Pulitzer Prize for All the Light We Cannot See (on my list of best books of all time!).  This is just such a satisfactory read which ends with all the pieces falling gloriously and deliciously into place.

When asked about the title of his book, Anthony Doerr says: ‘Cloud Cuckoo Land’ was a phrase invented by the comic playwright Aristophanes’ 2,400 years ago in “The Birds,” one his few plays that survives to this day. In the centuries since, a ‘cloud cuckoo land’ has been used to describe any number of fanciful worlds… In my novel, I hope to embrace the full range of contemporary and historical meanings of the phrase, from a beautiful utopia where there is no suffering, to an absurd and over-optimistic fantasy.

Cloud Cuckoo Land is a book within a fabulous book!  The book, in fact an archaic Greek text, is completely imagined by Doerr but he attributes it to a real writer of the ancient world, Antonius Diogenes. Doerr imagines that Diogenes has written a piece of entertainment for his niece, to distract and cheer her up during a life-threatening illness. It tells of a “a dull-witted mutton-headed lamebrain shepherd”, Aethon who longs to travel to an avian paradise he’s heard about, a city in the sky. To get to the city and enter it, Aethon must be a bird and not a human so he seeks help transforming himself into a bird. But the spell goes wrong and Aethon spends 80 years being a man, 1 year a donkey, 1 year a sea bass and 1 year a crow.   As Elizabeth Knox says in the Guardian It is clear from the opening chapters of Doerr’s Cloud Cuckoo Land that the novel’s characters, in their different time periods, will have something to do with this book inside a book, whether as champion, custodian or threat.

And so we follow the five characters living in three different times in history:

1439 Constantinople:  There’s Omeir, a boy cursed at birth by his harelip, whose oxen have been requisitioned for the siege of Constantinople and separately, inside the besieged city, the orphaned seamstress Anna, also thirteen, desperately trying to care for her ill sister and determined to learn to read.

2020 Idaho: There’s 80 year old Zeno Ninis who, as the book opens, is directing a play he’s written for children at the local library. The rehearsal is terrifyingly interrupted by Seymour Stuhlman, who’s armed and carrying an explosive device. Seymour is a lonely, socially-challenged young man who has become a radical since developers encroached on the wilderness he loves.

Mid 22nd century:  There’s a young teenager called Konstance who is traveling on a spacecraft in search of a more promising and habitable planet than the blighted Earth she and her fellow passengers have left behind.

Cloud Cuckoo Land — Anthony Doerr Do take a listen to Anthony explaining his book in his own words.

 

Sorry about the lengthy review but I do want to do the book justice!  This is such a wonderful read about interconnectedness – with each other, with other species, with those who lived before us and those who will come after us – and the need to take great care of them all. And, of course, it’s about the triumph and joy of books! Happy sigh!

here is a kind of book a seasoned writer produces after a big success: large-hearted, wide in scope and joyous…a deep lungful of fresh air – and a gift of a novel – The Guardian

a paean to the nameless people who have played a role in the transmission of ancient texts and preserved the tales they tell. But it’s also about the consolations of stories and the balm they have provided for millenniums. It’s a wildly inventive novel that teems with life, straddles an enormous range of experience and learning, and embodies the storytelling gifts that it celebrates. It also pulls off a resolution that feels both surprising and inevitable, and that compels you back to the opening of the book with a head-shake of admiration at the Swiss-watchery of its construction. – the New York Times

It is tragedy and comedy and myth and fable and a warning and a comfort all at the same time – npr

Sprawling and ambitious and imaginative… [Doerr] is a writer with the rare ability to achieve the universal and the specific simultaneously. His stories, both vast and intimate, are dazzling, sometimes dizzying in their scope… unlike anything you’ve ever read. – San Francisco Chronicle

Doerr’s characters are astoundingly resilient, suggesting that we may yet save ourselves, with literature an essential tool – Boston Globe