Books, Issue 652

Emily Woof - The Whole Wide Beauty

(Faber) The debut novel of actor and playwright Emily Woof, The Whole Wide Beauty arguably betrays its author’s thespian background with the sheer self-absorption of her characters, densely layered but seemingly incapable of empathy outwith sudden…

Joanne Limburg - The Woman Who Thought Too Much

The struggle against your demons is hard enough when they are physical entities. When they are simply destructive thoughts jangling around inside your own head is another matter. Here is an OCD survivor’s memoir. Atlantic.

Ian Clayton - Our Billie

The tragic death by drowning of his own daughter led a father to the darkest corners of his soul, but from there Ian Clayton has produced a potent and celebratory memoir. Viking.

Fatima Bhutto - Songs of Blood and Sword

(Jonathan Cape) The Bhutto dynasty have taken a few hits down the years and here Benazir’s niece recalls some dark times as part of a rich feudal family in Pakistan.

Per Wastberg - The Journey of Anders Sparrman

Detailing the trials and tribulations of an 18th century apostle of a famed Swedish botanist who treks across Antarctica, Tahiti and South Africa. Granta.

Mick Jackson - The Widow’s Tale

A recently widowed woman heads off in her car to find solace and some resolution to a frustrating life. Faber.

Alex McBride - Defending the Guilty

(Viking) They might have a public image problem, but when a lawyer is the difference to you between freedom and incarceration, they can suddenly become closer than any family member or friend. In Defending the Guilty, criminal barrister Alex McBride…

James Kelman - If it is Your Life

(Hamish Hamilton) James Kelman’s fiction is a safehouse for the dispossessed and downtrodden; a soft and sympathetic place where the homeless, limbless or loveless find refuge. This short story collection from the Glaswegian socialist is typically…

Mike Carey & Peter Gross - The Unwritten

(Vertigo/Titan) Obviously taking the boy wizard Harry Potter as its cultural and contextual inspiration, this new ongoing series from writer Mike Carey weaves a complex metafiction blurring the lines between fact and fantasy. In The Unwritten, Tommy…

Kevin MacNeil: Big Picture

Having just completed cycle rides across Europe for cancer charities, the acclaimed Hebridean author gets back inside his writerly head for this event in which he will discuss his work, an oeuvre that includes a novel, The Stornoway Way, a book of…

Derek Walcott - White Egrets

(Faber) Derek Walcott’s White Egrets was years in the writing, its publication coming after last year’s Poetrygate which resulted in his reputation smeared through allegations of sexual harassment. If there was one way in which Walcott could get the…