From Jane Smiley’s fanciful fable to Bright Burning Things by Lisa Harding, a period thriller by Michael Farris Smith and Walter Mosley’s latest, this week’s best new fiction
The Strays Of Paris
Jane Smiley Mantle £16.99
Bear with me when I say that Paras, the heroine of Pulitzer-winner Smiley’s latest novel, is a horse – a talking horse – because this fanciful fable is as delightful as it is surprising.
A thoroughbred on the run in Paris, Paras pals up with a stray dog, a crow and a quarrelsome pair of mallards. When an orphaned eight-year-old boy takes an interest in them, the stage is set for a joyfully escapist celebration of friendship and freedom.
Hephzibah Anderson
Bright Burning Things
Lisa Harding Bloomsbury £14.99
Sonya, her son Tommy and their rescue dog Herbie are a tight-knit crew. Motherhood has replaced the glitter of an acting career, but much as mercurial, charismatic Sonya loves her son, her life is careening out of control, as one glass of wine becomes endless bottles.
Scared that she’ll lose him, and assailed by memories of her own troubled childhood, she agrees to rehab. It’s a scorching read – heart-breaking but ultimately hopeful.
Eithne Farry
Nick
Michael Farris Smith No Exit Press £12.99
Farris Smith seeks to fill the gaps in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age classic The Great Gatsby by imagining the back story of its narrator, Nick Carraway. The resulting picaresque is a period thriller that takes us from the trenches of the First World War to lovelorn wanderings and lowlife shenanigans in Paris and New Orleans.
While there’s no shortage of excitement, the ‘prequel’ tag feels opportunistic.
Anthony Cummins
Blood Grove
Walter Mosley W&N £20
Easy Rawlins is Philip Marlowe’s natural successor, a cynical yet noble private investigator plying his trade in the Los Angeles shadows. The series has now reached the turbulent late 1960s.
Blood Grove begins with a shell-shocked veteran of the Vietnam War asking Easy to find out if he’s accidentally murdered someone, and ends up with a series of ever more dangerous men and women fighting over the spoils of an armoured car heist.
A seriously enjoyable ride.
John Williams