Category: Lit Review

Writing more than 400 years ago in a land and culture far removed from our own, the question is worth asking: Is Shakespeare, or has Shakespeare ever been, relevant to us? While the bard’s continued grip on the West can certainly be attributable to historicity and the need for cultural continuity — we have our own legends and stories here both local and carried upon the shoulders of our ancestors — can we make the same argument in all earnestness? Or perhaps Shakespeare is so inseparable from English literature that to read the English story is to doff one’s cap to him?

It is not within the remit of this article to question the validity of the claim, i.e. that “Shakespeare reveals a different face to different cultures and different people at different times”, but it is sufficient for our purposes to agree that Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets remain an integral part of our cultural imagination, even as far removed away as we are from Stratford-upon-Avon. Romeo and Juliet is still the love story par excellence, Hamlet remains the tragic existentialist, and Caesar’s Brutus the betrayer above all other betrayers, Judas notwithstanding.

It is these characters, these faces, these ideas —arguably so foundationally representative of the  human psyche — that keep the bard relevant. And it is these ideas also that have inspired a new generation of writers to reimagine and retell the stories in contexts that find greater resonance with the contemporary reader.

Enter the Hogarth Shakespeare project, which invites modern novelists to reimagine some of his most celebrated plays.

 

Dunbar by Edward St Aubyn
A reimagining of one of Shakespeare’s most well-read tragedies, King Lear, Dunbar is an excoriating novel for and of our times — an examination of power, money and the value of forgiveness.

Henry Dunbar, the once all-powerful head of a global media corporation, is not having a good day. In his dotage he hands over care of the corporation to his two eldest daughters, Abby and Megan, but as relations sour, he starts to doubt the wisdom of past decisions. Now imprisoned in Meadowmeade, an upscale sanatorium in rural England, with only a demented alcoholic comedian as company, Dunbar starts planning his escape. As he flees into the hills, his family is hot on his heels. But who will find him first, his beloved youngest daughter, Florence, or the tigresses Abby and Megan, so keen to divest him of his estate? (RM52.90)

 

The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson
The Winter’s Tale is one of Shakespeare’s “late plays” that tells the story of a king whose jealousy results in the banishment of his baby daughter and the death of his beautiful wife. His daughter is found and brought up by a shepherd on the Bohemian coast, but through a series of extraordinary events, father and daughter, and eventually mother too, are reunited.

In The Gap of Time, Jeanette Winterson’s cover version of The Winter’s Tale, we move from London, a city reeling after the 2008 financial crisis, to a storm-ravaged American city called New Bohemia. Her story is one of childhood friendship, money, status, technology and the elliptical nature of time. Written with energy and wit, this is a story of the consuming power of jealousy on the one hand, and redemption and the enduring love of a lost child on the other. (RM59.90)

 

Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood
William Shakespeare’s The Tempest is retold as Hag-Seed by master storyteller, Margaret Atwood.

Felix is at the top of his game as artistic director of the Makeshiweg Theatre Festival. His productions have amazed and confounded. Now he’s staging a Tempest like no other: Not only will it boost his reputation, it will heal emotional wounds. Or that was the plan. Instead, after an act of unforeseen treachery, Felix is living in exile in a backwoods hovel, haunted by memories of his beloved lost daughter, Miranda. He’s also plotting revenge.

After 12 years, revenge finally arrives in the shape of a theatre course at a nearby prison. Here, Felix and his inmate actors will put on his Tempest and snare the traitors who destroyed him. It’s magic! But will it remake Felix as his enemies fall? Atwood’s novel take on Shakespeare’s play of enchantment, retribution, and second chances leads us on an interactive, illusion-ridden journey filled with new surprises and wonders of its own. (RM55.90)

 

Shylock is My Name by Howard Jacobson
Man Booker Prize-winner Howard Jacobson brings his singular brilliance to this modern re-imagining of one of Shakespeare’s most unforgettable characters: Shylock

Winter, a cemetery, Shylock. In this provocative and profound interpretation of The Merchant of Venice, Shylock is juxtaposed against his present-day counterpart in the character of art dealer and conflicted father Simon Strulovitch. With characteristic irony, Jacobson presents Shylock as a man of incisive wit and passion, concerned still with questions of identity, parenthood, anti-Semitism and revenge.

While Strulovich struggles to reconcile himself to his daughter Beatrice’s “betrayal” of her family and heritage — as she is carried away by the excitement of Manchester high society, and into the arms of a footballer notorious for giving a Nazi salute on the field — Shylock alternates grief for his beloved wife with rage against his own daughter’s rejection of her Jewish upbringing. Culminating in a shocking twist on Shylock’s demand for the infamous pound of flesh, Jacobson’s insightful retelling examines contemporary, acutely relevant questions of Jewish identity while maintaining a poignant sympathy for its characters and a genuine spiritual kinship with its antecedent — a drama which Jacobson himself considers to be “the most troubling of Shakespeare’s plays for anyone, but, for an English novelist who happens to be Jewish, also the most challenging”. (RM59.90)

 

New Boy by Tracy Chevalier
Tracy Chevalier brings Shakespeare’s harrowing drama of jealousy and revenge, Othello, to a 1970s era elementary school playground.

Arriving at his fifth school in as many years, diplomat’s son, Osei Kokote, knows he needs an ally if he is to survive his first day — so he’s lucky to hit it off with Dee, the most popular girl in school. But one student can’t stand to witness this budding relationship: Ian decides to destroy the friendship between the black boy and the golden girl. By the end of the day, the school and its key players — teachers and pupils alike — will never be the same again. Chevalier’s powerful drama of friends torn apart by jealousy, bullying and betrayal will leave you reeling. (RM52.90)

 

Macbeth by Jo Nesbo
Set in the 1970s in a run-down, rainy industrial town, Jo Nesbo’s Macbeth centres around a police force struggling to shed an incessant drug problem. Duncan, chief of police, is idealistic and visionary, a dream to the townspeople but a nightmare for criminals. The drug trade is ruled by two drug lords, one of whom — a master of manipulation named Hecate — has connections with the highest in power, and plans to use them to get his way.

Hecate’s plot hinges on steadily, insidiously manipulating Inspector Macbeth: the head of SWAT and a man already susceptible to violent and paranoid tendencies. What follows is an unputdownable story of love and guilt, political ambition, and greed for more, exploring the darkest corners of human nature, and the aspirations of the criminal mind. (Trade paperback, RM79.90)

Say hello to our new guest contributor, Eugene Lim. He reviews a debut novel set in Singapore. 

Who: A journalist who was born and raised in the UK, Fiona Mitchell’s debut novel, The Maid’s Room, is based on her experiences living in Singapore for almost three years. She is winner of the 2015 Frome Short Story Competition and has also been shortlisted three times for the Bristol Short Story Prize.

What: The Maid’s Room chronicles the lives of three women in dire circumstances, but for altogether different reasons. Jules is newly-arrived to Singapore from the UK, desperate to conceive a baby and struggling to accustom herself to her new social circle of privileged expatriate wives whose children are left in the care of their respective maids. Dolly is a youthful, attractive woman from the Philippines who is determined to do whatever it takes to provide for a decent upbringing for her daughter Mallie, and Dolly’s older sister Tala is an experienced hand at navigating the life of a foreign domestic worker.

All three are confronted with the existence of Vanda, a mysterious blogger with an apparent vendetta against foreign maids whose blog becomes a sensation for its supposed exposé chronicling their shenanigans and cautioning against giving them basic human rights. It is a story of sadness, poignancy and redemption.

Why: The Maid’s Room is an eye-opener into our casual neglect of the welfare of a fixture in modern, middle-class Malaysian life: the foreign live-in help. In recent times we have had ample news of the mental, physical and sexual abuse of foreign maids by their employers. This book serves as a wake-up call to many, highlighting the fact that these are in fact, people with needs, emotions, fears and hopes; people who are compelled to spend years away from their loved ones in order to provide for them.

The literary style isn’t very refined; but then again, this book is meant to reflect its characters, not romanticise them. This book was a tough read as time and again, I have been compelled to pause and admit distastefully that I have borne witness to live-in domestic helpers being subjected to similar experiences as Dolly and Tala, and merely shrugged it off.

This is a humorous and heart-breaking tale about the daily life of someone who struggles to be heard.

Verdict: This is a highly captivating story that I would recommend, one that serves as a cautionary tale against indifferent neglect and taking people for granted. (8/10)

Availability: Paperback, RM49.90

Thank you Pansing Distribution for a review copy of the book. 

By guest contributor Sarah Loh 

Who: Prayaag Akbar is a writer and journalist. A former deputy editor of Scroll, his award-winning reporting and commentary have examined various aspects of marginalisation in India. He studied at Dartmouth College and the London School of Economics. He lives in Mumbai with his wife and their cat, and works as a consulting editor with Mint, a leading Indian newspaper. Leila is his debut novel.

What: In a near-future city in India, society is fixated on the concept of purity and people revert to communal segregation based on caste. Divided by walls, communities are guarded by brutish men known as the Repeaters and permissions are needed to enter any one sector. In this bleak world of oppressive patriarchy and ostracism, Shalini searches for her lost daughter Leila, who was taken from her 16 years ago. This is a story of suffering and redemption and what it truly means to be human.

Why: Prayaag Akbar’s writing is simple yet engaging. The story starts off slow but once the pace picks up, it becomes a real page-turner. Shalini is a compelling and flawed character where you might find yourself first feeling bad for her, and then realising that she probably did not deserve your full sympathy. That said, she is not an unlikable character and you will most likely root for her as she searches for her daughter.

It is undeniable that this story is very much like Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Female narrator? Check. Communal segregation based on social class? Double check. Non-linear narrative that jumps between past and present? Triple check. That said, Leila isn’t a mere copycat story. The dystopia in Leila is more realistic and mirrors what real-world India could become if India’s social issues persist (i.e. prohibition of inter-caste marriages; the widening gap between the rich and the poor; the oppression of women). And it is this social realism that makes Leila a much more disturbing read.

Best/Worst Line(s): To her I am an emptiness, an ache she cannot understand but yearns to fill. No. I have left more, a glimmer at least. The blurred outline of a face. A tracery of scent. The weight of fingertips on her cheek. The warmth of her first cradle, my arms.

Verdict: Dystopian or speculative, Leila is an enjoyable story that sometimes hits a little too close to home. I was just a tad bit disappointed with the ending, but I suppose it works for this story. (9/10)

Availability: Hardback, RM89.90

Special thanks to Times Distribution for a review copy of the book. 

We’re delighted to have a new guest contributor, Emily Ding, write for us. Here’s her first review. 

Who: A few years ago, Tom Rachman — who used to work as a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press in Rome — published The Imperfectionists, his debut novel/linked short stories about a bunch of hacks working at a English-language paper in Rome, to critical acclaim. That was my introduction to his work, and because of that book I would read anything else he writes. He also wrote another novel, The Rise and Fall of Great Powers, and Basket of Deplorables, a collection of short stories inspired by Trumpian America.

What and Why: If, like me, you saw Mother! or Phantom Thread before picking up The Italian Teacher, you might initially be a little put off by its opening pages depicting a bullishly charming painter whose wife and son live in his shadow. But keep at it. It’ll very soon become clear that Bear Bavinsky is not actually the central character in this story; it’s his son, Charles “Pinch” Bavinsky, who, through boyhood, manhood and old age, never shakes off his need for his father’s approval. And the only way to win Bear’s approval is to feed his ego as an artist, even as the man is, with the passing of time and the fickleness of taste, relegated to a once-been.

Having grown up so close to fame with a celebrated father, Pinch is a young man with “needy ambitions” — expressed more as a desire to be seen and loved by his father and the world than any self-directed sense of purpose or impulse. When his budding skills as a painter —imitating his father’s work: studying parts of the human body in isolation — are abruptly dismissed, Pinch decides that he will write a biography of Bear Bavinsky instead. He can already picture it: The book will become critically acclaimed, and he will establish himself as an art critic. And yet, how can he, when everything he reveres and loathes is determined by what Bear reveres and loathes? Pinch is the guy who clings to what the people he worships say and do, and when they disavow what they’ve said or done he feels betrayed, because he never had the strength of his own convictions in the first place. Equally, his ambition sullies his friendships and relationships: He sees people for the figures of importance they might become — which would reinforce his own importance — rather than who they really are.

In less adept hands, Pinch might come across as a little insufferable, but Rachman has a knack — similarly displayed in his debut, The Imperfectionists — for exposing his characters’ foibles with clear-eyed tenderness, so that we always recognise, often uncomfortably, bits of ourselves in them. “Nobody likes to be understood without warning,” reads one line in the book.

Ultimately, does Pinch ever fulfil his dreams for his life? Does he ever make peace with being the seemingly second-rate son of a famous man? In attempting to answer these questions, Rachman asks so many more: What’s the point of making art: to create something good or how it makes you feel? What’s more important: a rich interior life or a life of public note? Can art and ambition and fame (itself a kind of love) fill the absence of real human love? I’ll leave you to find out, and just say that a twist — a secret act of rebellion — comes more than halfway through the book, so wait for it. If at other times the novel seems to be wading through the motions of a man’s entire life, with episodes of importance yet unclear, it’s because at heart, this is what the story is about: how to build a life — hopefully with a little bit of decency, dignity and accountability, whatever becomes of it.

Verdict: I wonder if the structure might have been played with a little bit to avoid a straight chronology, but otherwise, it’s funny, desperate, satirical and moving, all at once. It’s the sort of book that will make you ask yourself questions after you’ve put it down. (7/10)

Availability: In-store soon

Special thanks to Pansing Distribution for a review copy of the book. 

Who: You-Jeong Jeong initially trained as a nurse but is now South Korea’s leading writer of psychological thrillers and crime fiction. She is the award-winning author of four novels including Seven Years of Darkness, which was named one of the top ten crime novels of 2015 by German newspaper Die Zeit. Her work has been translated into seven languages. The Good Son, a No. 1 bestseller in Korea, is the first of her books to appear in English. The novel is translated by award-winning translator Chi-Young Kim.

What: Having suffered from seizures since he was a child, 26-year-old Yu-jin often has trouble with his memory. He wakes early one morning in such a state, having no recollection of what happened and why he is covered in blood. He soon discovers his mother’s murdered body lying in a pool of blood at the bottom of the stairs of their stylish Seoul duplex. Over the next few days, fragments from his memory of the night start surfacing in his head, eventually forming a clear picture of what happened and the truth about Yu-jin, his family and the extent to which a mother will go to protect herself and her son.

Why: I enjoyed the way this story unfolded, the unhurried pace of the storytelling. It is told from Yu-jin’s perspective, and because it begins with him suffering temporary amnesia, the search for the truth feels raw, authentic and heart-thumpingly urgent.

Throughout the book, the narrative switches from the present to the past to unpack Yu-jin’s complicated past. There’s his once-promising prospects in competitive swimming derailed by a propensity for seizures, being prescribed drugs that dull his body and mind, and crucially, the tragic incident that claimed the lives of his older brother and father, as well as the way his adoptive brother, Hae-jin, comes into the picture.

Slowly, like mist dispersing over a landscape, the truth is revealed, but not without much second-guessing on my part due to the red herrings the author deploys. It’s a deft psychological thriller that toys with you and shocks you to your core.

Verdict: Tense, gripping, and chilling, this is one deliciously twisted tale. (8/10)

Availability: Trade paperback, RM75.50

Special thanks to Pansing Distribution for an advance reading copy of the book.

Say hello to a new contributor for the Lit Review column, Sarah Loh. Her first review is a children’s book.

Who: Born in Lancashire, Sarah Todd Tayl0r was brought up in Yorkshire and moved to Wales when she was 8 years old. She studied history at university and remained in higher education as a researcher and then as a strategic planner. She has had short stories published in several anthologies. Her sophomore effort after her debut children’s book Arthur and Me is Max the Detective Cat: The Disappearing Diva.

What: Maximilian, a fluffy white cat accustomed to the finer things in life, suddenly finds himself out on the streets one night after one bad mouse chase. Scruffy and inevitably lost, he meets Oscar, a street-smart cat who helps him sneak into the Theatre Royal for shelter. It is here that Max finds a new family and officially becomes the theatre’s chief mouse-hunter. The adventure truly begins when Max senses something amiss with the theatre’s latest member — the famous singer Madame Emerald. There is something really fishy (and not the good kind) going on with Madame Emerald and it is up to Max to find out why before something terrible happens.

Why: This is one of those books written for children but can also be enjoyed by adults. The plot may be simple and straightforward (and a little clichéd but then again, I am reading it as an adult), but the build-up of the story is engaging and well-written. The storytelling isn’t flimsy and in fact, the scenes are so descriptive that the beautiful illustrations by Nicola Kinnear became secondary as I could already visualise the story based on the words alone.

What I like most about the book are the themes explored in the story ¾ the true meaning of family/love, the idea of freedom and the courage to step out of your comfort zone. There are also heavier themes slightly hinted at in the story, particularly regarding the origins of Maximilian and how he ended up the Theatre Royal. I also like the cat-racter development of the lovable Max as it is a delight to see him learning to be more cat-like. This book is honestly a joy to read and I am keen to see what’s next for Max in this series.

Best/Worst Line: “Maximilian was a cat of many miaows, but he had no miaow for this occasion.”

Verdict: The protagonist is a cat; what’s not to like? (10/10)

Reading Level: Aged 8 and up

Availability: Paperback, RM41.90

Thanks to Pansing Distribution for an advance reading copy of this book.

The Slave Prince is the third book by Malaysian author Jeyna Grace. An imaginative retelling of the story of Moses, The Slave Prince is set in the fantasy kingdom of Alpenwhist where young Prince Thom believed himself to be the heir apparent to the throne. However, his dreams of glory are cut short one day when he learns that he is no prince but is instead the descendant of slaves. Thom quickly realises that he must first accept his past before he can move on to the future.

Lit Books is pleased to be a stockist of Jeyna’s book, and we managed to ask her a few questions regarding her process.

1. The Slave Prince is a retelling of the story of Moses. Why did you pick such a well-told tale to be the basis of your novel, and were you at all concerned that your interpretation of events might ruffle some feathers?
The story of Moses is one of my favourite biblical tales. Growing up, I would rewatch The Prince of Egypt countless times, with family karaoke nights incomplete without the song, When You Believe. In its essence, the story of Moses and the plight of the Israelites is a powerful representation of faith and belief — it shows us how nothing is impossible, that there can be miracles, when we believe. And as someone who enjoys writing spin-offs and retellings, what better story to pick than the one with such a compelling message?

Before writing The Slave Prince, I decided on two things: to stay as close to the original timeline and to build on the core message of belief. I didn’t worry much about ruffling feathers as I was focused on creating a tale that would resonate with readers and inspire them to believe in the impossible and to fight for what they believe in. And I believed — that’s a lot of ‘believe’ in one paragraph — that by adding magic, the twist of events would make the old and familiar tale fresh and exciting again.

2. The biblical story of Moses, at its heart, is the story of God’s chosen who eschews a life of luxury to lead his people to freedom. In a sense, it is a story of redemption. Is The Slave Prince similarly focused on redemption?
Redemption is indeed a part of the story, but not the part I chose to focus on. There’s a lot of the story of Moses and the Israelites that reflects the current world we live in — injustice and modern-day slavery are rampant, with many individuals struggling to believe in themselves and their abilities. I chose to focus on issues that we’re all familiar with, creating characters that are just like us in a world that could benefit from more hope, unity, and love.

3. The Slave Prince is not your first book. Has your experience with your previous books been instructive in writing and producing this third book? If so, in what way?
Certainly! All of my books presented new learning opportunities. Self-publishing my first novel, The Dreamer, introduced me to the publishing industry. Publishing my second novel, The Battle for Oz, with Inkshares taught me how to create better characters and sentence structures. The Slave Prince has helped me to expand my imagination — I’ve learned how to build bigger worlds, create more complex plot lines, and push past the cliches for something more unique and exciting.

4. You are still holding down a day job whilst writing books. That has got to be difficult. Are you looking to make the switch to writing full-time?
It’s a dream of mine to be a full-time author. Alas, I’m not in a position to make that shift yet. Hopefully, the day will come where I’ll get to write books day and night.

5. You are a Malaysian author published by a US publisher on a unique crowd-funded structure — it seems that you have embraced technology quite a bit to become a published author. What has your experience on this platform been, and have you considered more traditional publishing/distribution arrangements?
Crowd-funding is never an easy process. Getting both of my books, The Battle for Oz and The Slave Prince, published required a lot of asking, selling, pleading, hoping, and praying. It’s not an easy route to get published, but it’s also not impossible if you have the determination to succeed. Once you do cross the finish line, you’ll experience the full publishing process similar to that of a traditional publisher. Have I considered taking the traditional route? Yes. I’m actually pitching my next book to literary agents! Hopefully, I’ll be able to find a representative for my trilogy soon.

6. What’s next for you? Is there another book in the making?
There is! I’m working on a trilogy which is neither a spin-off nor a retelling. I’m currently pitching Book One to literary agents, and plotting Book Two in hopes of finishing the first draft this year. The trilogy is also a young adult fantasy novel with a royal teenage protagonist. I don’t want to give away too much information, but it involves traveling through realms with, of course, magic.

The Slave Prince is available in-store for RM48.90.

Don’t have much time to read? A short novel is just the thing for you. Take your pick from these punchy novellas, all of which are less than 150 pages. Engrossing, enchanting, and some just downright weird, these books can be easily devoured in one sitting.

 

1. Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima follows, over a course of a year, a young woman left by her husband who starts a new life in a Tokyo apartment. Her new home is filled with light, streaming through the windows, but she finds herself plummeting deeper into darkness. She struggles to bring up her two-year-old daughter alone. At once tender and lacerating, luminous and unsettling, Territory of Light is a novel of abandonment, desire and transformation.

 

2. Infidels by Abdellah Taïa is set in Salé, Morocco and follows the life of Jallal, the son of a prostitute witch doctor. As a ten-year-old sidekick to his mother, Jallal spits in the face of her enemies both real and imagined. The cast of characters that rush into their lives are unforgettable for their dreams of love and belonging that unravel in turn. Built as a series of monologues that are emotionally relentless, the book follows Jallal out of boyhood on the path to Jihad. It’s a path that surprises even him.

 

3. Per Petterson’s debut novel Echoland is about 12-year-old Arvid, who is on holiday with his family and staying with his grandparents on the coast of Denmark. Arvid is on the cusp of becoming a teenager: feeling awkward in his own skin, but adamant that he can take care of himself. At the beach, Arvid meets an older boy Mogens and together they set out to find fresh experiences. Echoland is a breathtaking read, capturing the unique drift of childhood summers, filled with unarticulated anxiety.

 

4. The background to Found Audio by N. J. Campbell is that of Amrapali Anna Singh, an historian and analyst capable of discerning the most cryptic and trivial details from audio recordings. One day, a mysterious man appears at her office with three Type IV audio cassettes that bear the stamp of a library in Buenos Aires that may or may not exist. On the cassettes is the deposition of an unnamed adventure journalist and his obsessive pursuit of an amorphous, legendary, and puzzling “City of Dreams”. Spanning decades, his quest leads him from a snake-hunter in the Louisiana bayou to the walled city of Kowloon on the eve of its destruction, from the Singing Dunes of Mongolia to a chess tournament in Istanbul. Despite being explicitly instructed not to, Singh mails a transcription of the cassettes with her analysis to an acquaintance before vanishing. The man who bore the cassettes also disappears. This book is the complete archival manuscript of the mysterious recordings accompanied by Singh’s analysis.

 

5. The Years, Months, Days by Yan Lianke contains his two most acclaimed novellas, masterfully crafted stories that explore the sacrifices made for family, the driving will to survive, and the longing to leave behind a personal legacy. Marrow is the haunting tale of a widow who goes to extremes to provide a normal life for her four disabled children. The Years, Months, Days, winner of the prestigious Lu Xun Literary Prize, is about an elderly man stays behind in his small village after a terrible drought forces everyone to leave. With touches of the fantastical and with deep humanity, these two magnificent novellas ― masterpieces of the short form ― reflect the universality of mankind’s will to live, live well, and live with purpose.

 

6. Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson is a collection of linked short stories that presents a unique, hallucinatory vision of contemporary American life. In their intensity of perception, their neon-lit evocation of a strange world brought uncomfortably close to our own, the stories offer a disturbing yet eerily beautiful portrayal of American loneliness and hope.

 

7. All This Has Nothing To Do With Me by Monica Sabolo is about an obsession spiralling out of control, and an exposé of a broken heart. With photos, diary extracts and emails, it documents MS and XX’s relationship from jubilant start to painful finish. Highly original, funny and darkly moving, this is a glimpse into the depths of one woman’s psyche.

 

8. Cynan Jones’ Cove is a short, sharp punch of a book about a man out at sea, who is struck by lightning. When he wakes, injured and adrift on a kayak, his memory of who he is and how he came to be there is all but shattered. Now he must pit himself against the pain and rely on his instincts to get back to shore, and to the woman he dimly senses waiting for his return. With its taut narrative and its wincingly visceral portrait of a man locked in an uneven struggle with the forces of nature, this is a powerful new work from one of the most distinctive voices in British fiction.

 

9. The Last Horror Novel in the History of the World by Brian Allen Carr is set in Scrape, Texas, a nowhere town near the Mexican border. Few people ever visit Scrape, and the unlucky ones who live there never seem to escape. They fill their days with fish fries, cheap beer, tobacco, firearms, and sex. But Scrape is about to be invaded by a plague of monsters unlike anything ever seen in the history of the world.

 

10. Banana Yoshimoto’s Kitchen is an enchantingly original and deeply affecting book that juxtaposes two tales about mothers, love, tragedy, and the power of the kitchen and home in the lives of a pair of free-spirited young women in contemporary Japan. There’s Mikage, an orphan raised by her grandmother, and Mikage’s friend Yoichi and his mother Eriko, who take Mikage in after her grandmother passes away. The three of them form an improvised family that soon weathers its own tragic losses.

All titles are available at Lit Books.

Words by guest contributor Poon Jin Feng

Who: In contrast to the sunny image of her birthplace of South Florida, amid a colourful life characterised by reading, baking, and dragging a ‘lazy’ dog out on walks, Laura Sebastian’s literary debut is rather grim. Ash Princess is the first of a YA fantasy trilogy, but by no means is it Sebastian’s first attempt at storytelling. That dates back to the second grade, when she put together a Cinderella retelling about angels. Since then, she’s completed a BA from Savannah College of Art and Design, moved to New York City, and produced this page-turning gem, with two books to follow.

What: Theodosia, heir to the kingdom of Artemisia, is just a child when she witnesses the murder of her mother and is taken prisoner by the right-hand man of the Kaiser, head of the invading Kalovaxians. Kept a hostage as a symbol of the Kaiser’s power, she is forced to wear crowns of ashes, a mockery of her former royal status, and the merest rumour of dissent by the conquered Artemisians earns her a brutal whipping.

Respite from the cruelties bestowed upon her come in the form of Crescentia, daughter of the very man who killed her mother and her closest — indeed, only — friend in the castle. So close is this unlikely friendship that Theo — the Kaiser denies her the right to her original name and orders she to refer to herself as Thora or Theo among select company — looks at her almost as a sister.

Word of growing underground rebellion reaches the court and a bedraggled man one day is dragged before the Kaiser, leader of the rebellion and a figure Theo recognises from her childhood. She is commanded to prove her loyalty to the Kaiser in a despicable manner, an order that will change the course of her life as she discovers an inner fire she never knew. Aided and abetted by an old friend and his gang of young rebels, she begins fighting back, a move that tests loyalties between friends old and new.

Why: Let’s be honest, there is little that is wholly original about Ash Princess if you’ve spent a decent amount of time in the YA world. There is even a painfully trite love triangle, though mercifully little time is dedicated to this trope. That said, after an info-heavy first chapter that dispensed all necessary information, the remaining chapters went by relatively fast.

Violence does feature rather frequently in the early parts of the book, and it is easy to sympathise with Theo — the hand she’s dealt with is a rather sorry one, and she does the necessary to survive. In other words, the book opens with her drawn as a pliant, timid prisoner, eternally grateful for the small mercies thrown her way by Cress.

Their relationship is core to the strength and theme of this story, examining the complex bonds that bind the self-declared sisters. Cress’ position of privilege is a stark contrast to the manner Theo is kept in, and while she appears to love the fallen princess, it seems to be a relationship built on conditions. When Theo begins to push back against the Kaiser, and when Cress’ love interest appears to be smitten by Theo, Cress’ true feelings towards her friend surface. Theo in the meantime finds herself questioning their relationship and battling with the contradictory answers. What really is loyalty? Is it born out of gratitude or a shared cause, as is the growing alliance between Theo and the Artemisian rebels? Or is it something else altogether, the glue of friendship kindled from unconditional help and comradeship?

The storytelling can be a tad clunky at times and character development of the secondary characters is somewhat lacking, but the latter might have been done at the expense of growing Theo as a believable central figure. There is a sprinkling of elemental magic, thanks to the gemstones mined by the Artemisians but which the Kalovaxians have no power to use and so wear them as ornaments instead, a further insult to the proud Artemisians. I would hope to see greater use of magic in the second and third book, as it is woefully underutilised and seems to be almost incidental here. All in all though, I would give this debut a thumb’s up.

Verdict: Between the violence and humiliation, a dash of fantasy, the bonds of friendship and a strong female protagonist, this is a rather compelling read and a great introduction into the YA world for newcomers of not-too-delicate sensibilities. (7.5/10)

Availability: Paperback, RM46.90. (Eligible to purchase as part of the Get 3 YA novels for RM99 deal.)

Special thanks to Pansing Distribution for an ARC of the book.