Fiction

It Should Have Been You by Andrea Mara is published in hardback by Bantam

It Should Have Been You opens by asking if you’ve ever done something stupid and realised too late to avert the damage. Of course we have, but nothing as catastrophic as a vicious message Susan O’Donnell meant to send to her sister, poking fun at people in her WhatsApp group, which she mistakenly sends to said WhatsApp group instead by accident. Before she realises what she’s done, it’s too late to retract details of a “bratty” girl who bunks off school and an affair one of the husbands is having. It isn’t long before Susan is getting nasty messages back. Any hope she has that her mistake will be forgotten quickly disappears when she starts receiving death threats, a brick is thrown through her window, and a woman is murdered in her home in a different part of town, but with the same address and similar name as Susan. She becomes paranoid that she was the intended target and could still be in danger, along with her young daughter. This is another surefire best seller from Dublin-based Andrea Mara, with a gripping plot and dire warnings about making mistakes with messages.

The Book of Records by Madeleine Thien is published in hardback by Granta Books

Lina and her ailing father have arrived at ‘The Sea’, a mysterious staging post for migrants, and among their few possessions are three volumes from the Great Lives of Voyagers encyclopaedic series. Lina reads these books obsessively, and their stories become blurred with those of their neighbours at The Sea – Bento is Baruch Spinoza, an ex-communicated Jewish scholar in 17th-century Amsterdam, Blucher is Hannah Arendt, philosopher in 1930s Germany fleeing Nazi persecution and Jupiter doubles as Du Fu, a poet of Tang Dynasty China. Their stories become interwoven with Lina’s own in an exploration of themes which chime throughout history and are relevant again today – nationalism, climate change, disease, all contributing to forced migration. Steeped in philosophy, Madeleine Thien’s beautifully-composed novel has much to say on these topics, but this series of recollections, stories and dreams is one where the central thread is not always easy to grasp.

Finding Belle by Reeta Chakrabarti is published in hardback by HarperCollins

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In BBC news presenter Reeta Chakrabarti’s debut novel, Finding Belle, her heroine Mivvi is growing up in a house where her glamorous mother Belle’s mental health is spiralling out of control, while her preening, narcissistic father Fairfax fails to step in and support her. Compounded by her mother’s move from wealth and comfort in Mombasa, to Seventies white British suburbia, Mivvi struggles as her family life implodes, and there’s also a secret kernel behind it all that she can’t quite grasp. Fairfax is brilliantly repellent, and Belle’s deterioration is deeply moving, but the plot’s momentum is halting at times, and Mivvi can be a frustrating protagonist. The greatest moments of colour and feeling come from Belle’s letters, which act like diary entries interspersed between chapters; powerful missives from before her mind begins to break that you’ll want more of.

Non-fiction

Is A River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane is published in hardback by Hamish Hamilton

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From the precipitous cloud-forests of Ecuador to the lagoons of southern India and the wilds of north-eastern Quebec, acclaimed nature writer Robert Macfarlane turns his attention to rivers and their rights in imagination and law. Global headlines about pollution levels choking the life out of our waterways make Macfarlane’s latest focus an especially timely one, yet amid the heartbreaking tales of destruction, he manages to forge reasons for cautious optimism. That comes in the fervent campaigns waged by ecologists and indigenous rights activists to protect their ancient water bodies, and in the resilience of flora and fauna that continues to thrive and will do so long after human intervention. Central to Macfarlane’s argument is whether a river can benefit by being reclassified as a living, breathing entity, which might in turn afford it protections and rights that can hold drillers and loggers at bay. Part spellbinding travelogue, part polemic on the importance of waterways that criss-cross like veins, Macfarlane lends his considerable expertise to a topic that has seldom felt so urgent. If the answer to the book’s titular question is an affirmative one, then the beautiful and abused rivers of the world would surely express gratitude that in Macfarlane they have found such a persuasive champion.

Children’s book of the week

The Blockbusters! by Frank Cottrell-Boyce is published in hardback by Macmillan Children’s Books

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Award-winning author Frank Cottrell-Boyce is back with another brilliant book for children aged nine to 12. In The Blockbusters!, Year 6 goes to Hollywood for an action-packed adventure featuring a private jet and the actual Oscars. Schoolboy Rafa is from a humble background and, together with his older brother Cillian, has to go and live with a disinterested uncle while their mother tries to sort them out a reliable home. Starting a new school leads Rafa on an epic adventure, where his likeness to famous film star BB gives him VIP access to a celebrity lifestyle. But there is a serious problem to solve when Cillian goes missing. Can the brothers reunite and make it back home? With twists and turns and a healthy dose of humour, readers will race through this novel to find out what happens next.