Fiction Essentials
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The Safekeep
The Safekeep is historical literary romance, which is not generally my bag. I loved it. The less you know going in the better. I think this one is going to win a lot of awards.
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The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories
Angela Carter is an author you should know. Her writing is floral and seductive, and these gothic horror stories are unforgettable
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The Body in Question
In her memoir Consent, Ciment casts herself as an unreliable narrator of her own life. The Body in Question is fiction, so closely based upon her real life that it raises questions of its’ own.
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My Phantoms
My Phantoms is surprising, complicated and fantastic. I can’t believe Gwendoline Riley isn’t a more well-known writer
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Service
Service is a riveting novel about a superstar chef accused of rape. I couldn’t put it down
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Sophie’s Choice
William Styron’s Sophie’s Choice is an all-timer, and so is his daughter Alexandra’s piece about him.
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Loved and Missed
Loved and Missed is the best book I’ve read this year. Maybe any year. It’s brilliant
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The Invention of Morel
It doesn’t seem like it was published more than 80 years ago. It’s as close to a perfect novel as you’ll find
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Collected Stories
These characters are lonely, despondent, often spiralling, and nobody writes them as well as McCullers.
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The Trees
What if Mel Brooks and Jordan Peele wrote an Elmore Leonard novel? This is unbelievably good.
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The Age of Innocence
Beautifully written, impossible to put down, with an ending full of shocking twists. Probably perfect. You should read it.
