CONTEMPORARY
SUCH A FUN AGE
by Kiley Reid (Bloomsbury £12.99, 320 pp)
I loved this extraordinarily deft debut, written with wisdom, kindness and sharp humour. Set in Pennsylvania, the book confronts issues of privilege, race and social status head-on and from two very different perspectives.
Middle-aged Alix is an accomplished, affluent white woman who employs staff to look after her children while she runs her business. Emira is her 25-year-old black babysitter, who adores the kids but is also conscious that she needs a full-time job with health insurance, as she will soon be kicked off her parents’ policy.
When Emira is accused of kidnapping her young charge by a racist security guard at a local high-end supermarket, a well-meaning bystander films the whole thing.
Clever, compelling and beautifully written, I can’t stop thinking about it. Buy it for yourself and then for everyone else.
THE DILEMMA
by B. A. Paris (HQ £12.99, 352 pp)
Imagine finding out the most horribly life-changing news moments before hosting a huge party for all your family and friends. Imagine knowing that everyone else will feel as bad as you do when they hear about it.
Do you tell them and cancel the party —because there’s no way it could happen under these circumstances — or do you sit on it until the morning, giving your loved ones the chance to have one more night of happiness before this news destroys them, too?
This is the hellish quandary Adam wrestles with while the marquee is going up for his wife Livia’s 40th birthday party. Livia has been planning this party for 20 years and, although this news is the worst ever, it’s not going to be any different in the morning.
A departure from B. A. Paris’s previous psycho-thrillers, this emotional story is gripping.
FOLLOWERS by Megan Angelo (HQ £8.99, 384 pp)
FOLLOWERS
by Megan Angelo (HQ £8.99, 384 pp)
In 2016, Orla and her flatmate Floss are building a life of fame and freebies by gaining followers on social media.
Manipulating their private lives for traction on public platforms seems fun and harmless and, above all, it’s working — as the increasing deliveries of free stuff and invites, and media appearances, prove.
In 2051 Floss’s daughter Marlow is living in a Truman Show-style closed community called Constellation, where every move she makes is judged by a huge audience.
Unlike many in her community, Marlow dreams of an anonymous life and is beginning to hate the scriptwriters, editors and advertisers who control all her decisions to get ratings.
It’s not until she discovers a secret about her birth that she finds the courage to escape. We then begin to understand how the two narratives relate.
This is suspenseful, thought-provoking and terrifying.