Author Pat Barker continues her quest to give voice to women’s stories from ancient Greece…

fiction

1. The Voyage Home by Pat Barker is published in hardback by Hamish Hamilton and costs £20 (e-book £10.99). Available now

Pat Barker has a talent for telling grim stories in a way that is both compelling and accessible to those who can stomach them. Since her gripping 1982 debut novel, Union Street, Barker has tackled subjects such as World War I and the Trojan War with a matter-of-fact approach. The Voyage Home is the third installment in The Women of Troy trilogy, which looks at the events of Homer’s ancient Greek epic The Iliad from the perspective of often powerless women. Ritsa is now the servant of King Priam’s priest’s daughter Cassandra, who has been taken to the bed of the victorious Agamemnon. Meanwhile, Agamemnon’s wife Clytemnestra angrily awaits his return while mourning the daughter he sacrificed to the gods to plead for calm seas. While some knowledge of the characters may be helpful, it is not essential to have read the earlier novels in the trilogy, as Barker weaves highlights of the backstory into a gripping and fast-paced read.

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9/10

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(Review by Beverley Rouse)

2. Shy Creatures by Clare Chambers is published in hardback by W&N and costs £20 (e-book £11.49). Available on 29 August

The novel is set in Croydon in 1964. William, a 37-year-old mute man with a beard down to his waist, is discovered locked in a house with his elderly aunt. He is taken to the local psychiatric hospital, where art therapist Helen Hansford tries to uncover his story. The novel is cleverly constructed, moving back and forth between the hospital stay and William’s childhood and his everyday life as an adult. The novel slowly unravels the mystery of how he got into this predicament, and highlights how even the best intentions can have negative consequences. Helen, too, must face her situation – she is in love with a married man, a doctor at the hospital who does not want to leave his wife. Clare Chambers had a big hit with Small Pleasures in 2020, but for more than 20 years she has been writing intelligent, sensitive stories about mostly ordinary lives that are extraordinary in their own way. She has learned her craft. This haunting novel pays tribute to the value of kindness and compassion in contrast to the waves of human frailty.

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9/10

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(Review by Bridie Pritchard)

3. The Examiner by Janice Hallett is available in hardback from Viper at £18.99 (e-book £10.99). Available from 29 August

Janice Hallett has done it again, turning her attention to another hotbed of out-of-control jealousy: the university lecture hall. Much less grim than her last book, The Mysterious Case Of The Alperton Angels, which revolved around rumours of a notorious cult, and slightly less funny than The Appeal, but no less fascinating, The Examiner begins with an external examiner trying to work out what happened on an art masters course after a possible murder, using recordings from an online student messaging service, project essays and WhatsApp conversations. A standout is the character of young sculptor Jem, whose pompous arrogance will make you giggle as she annoys her classmates with rudeness and a belief that their grades should be better. The only downside to the tome, which will leave you up late at night trying to figure out the ending, is the lack of drawings of the mixed media art the students create.

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8/10

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(Review by Charlotte McLaughlin)

Non-fiction

4. The Red Emperor: Xi Jinping And The New China by Michael Sheridan is published in hardback by Headline Press and costs £25 (e-book £12.99). Available from 29 August

Chinese President Xi Jinping has been the country’s leader since taking office in 2012, but the story of his rise to power was written in the generations before he was born. Today, he is arguably one of the most powerful men in the world. Veteran journalist Michael Sheridan’s new book, The Red Emperor: Xi Jinping and the New China, takes an in-depth look at his rise. Sheridan’s book is easy to understand and very readable, especially given the complexity of the material at hand. Historical facts are easily explained and interwoven with anecdotes from a variety of fields, making it a truly compelling read. If you’ve ever wanted to learn more about the man behind modern-day China, this is the perfect place to start.

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8/10

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(Review by Kathy Iffly)

Children’s book of the week

5. Open Wide! by Letizia Diamante, illustrated by Ed J. Brown, is published in hardback by What On Earth!, priced £14.99 (not an e-book). Available from 5 September

This is a picture book, but not quite as you know it. Rather than a narrative arc, Open Wide! is a cheerful bombardment of facts amid colorful illustrations. The approach is a little special—author Letizia Diamante focuses specifically on the mouths of the animal world, but there’s a lot more scope in that than you might think. From discovering that tigers have 30 teeth to a rabbit’s hidden incisors, there’s a lot to learn here. It turns out mouths can reveal a whole lot about an animal—and kids aged seven and up will love picking up this book to learn a new anecdote. Well researched and beautifully illustrated, it’s the kind of book kids will return to again and again.

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8/10

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(Review by Prudence Wade)