This week’s fiction includes a moving work set in the aftermath of the American Civil War to a world filled with magical animals, while non-fiction ranges across the local rock scene, the heroes and villains of history and WWII fighter pilots.
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fiction → include → history
The Newer World by Sebastian Barry (Allen & Unwin $34.99)
Some may quibble that as a white Irishman, Sebastian Barry ought not to have the authorial right to adopt the voice of Tennyson Bouguereau, a black man navigating the messy aftermath of the Civil War.
uncertain
Barry → quibble → War
But if anyone can perform this act of cultural ventriloquism well, it’s Barry.
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it → perform → ventriloquism
The Newer World navigates the world of Tennyson, who, alongside his twin sister, was born into slavery but eventually freed, only to discover that freedom is not necessarily equivalent to acceptance in the deep American South.
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freedom → navigate → South
From rural Tennessee to Nashville, where Tennyson, with his beautiful voice, is given a chance to join a choir, and then to England when he goes on tour, and then back to America, Barry recreates the 19th-century period with vividness and colour.
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Barry → give → vividness
Written in the first person, this historical fiction is elegantly wrought.
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fiction → write → person
Like his poetic namesake, Tennyson’s descriptive mannerisms are filled with rhythmic, lyrical touches that can seem grandiose at times.
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that → fill → times
But the narrative balances racism and trauma with hope and transformation.
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narrative → balance → hope
Strange Familiars by Keshe Chow (Hachette, $34.99)
Two academic rivals at a College of Magical Veterinary Sciences battle it out: in the one corner is earnest and hard-working Gwendolynne Chan, and facing her is rich nepo baby Harrisford Briggs.
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Briggs → battle → her
The reader will be forgiving for thinking the novel will focus on cutesy and strange animals doing fantastic tricks before they become injured, but Keshe Chow leads the narrative elsewhere.
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Chow → think → narrative
Set in an alternate London, her world-building involves the pair trying to figure out why there’s excessive magic that turns the animal-familiars feral and also causes explosions in the city.
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that → Set → city
They have to join forces to stop the surges.
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They → have → surges
Strange Familiars is told through alternate viewpoints of the protagonists as they investigate competing organisations that distribute and oppose the global supply of magic.
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that → tell → magic
The enemy-to-lovers trope is predictable, with Chow at full rein in exploring the romantasy genre.
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Chow → explore → genre
It’s a fun read – the first instalment of a series of two, and Percy, Gwen’s snarky telepathic cat, is a joyful addition.
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Percy → ’ → two
Female Life on Planet Earth by Laleh Khadivi (Oneworld, $32.99)
Set in Los Angeles, this novel is about secret lives and the relationships between mothers and daughters.
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novel → Set → mothers
It focuses on the year Heti spends after the death of her mother, Anahita.
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Heti → focus → mother
While she plans a large-scale mourning anniversary at the urging of her bossy traditionalist aunt, Heti receives a mysterious package containing photos of a younger Anahita, enveloped in a black veil and carrying a machine gun.
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Heti → plan → gun
The mother Heti knew and loved was sweet and nurturing – who was this fighter in combat mode?
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fighter → know → mode
What follows is a series of conversational vignettes with strangers about what it means to be a woman.
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it → follow → what
But too much time and energy are spent on such peripheral musings, with comparatively scant details about Anahita’s past only allowed to surface toward the end.
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details → spend → end
Though the book obviously references revolutionary Iran, it’s odd that Laleh Khadivi refrains from mentioning the country.
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Khadivi → reference → country
Perhaps she’s aiming for universality of themes about war, religious fanaticism, persecution, womanhood, diaspora, and immigration, but depersonalising the context does a disservice to the narrative.
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depersonalising → aim → narrative
Midwest by Caitlin Maling (Upswell, $27.99)
In this suite of poems, Caitlin Maling roams the coastal waters of Western Australia with a keen eye.
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Maling → roam → eye
Mailing grew up in and around Fremantle, and her love of the vistas around this port city is evident.
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love → grow → city
Midwest, her sixth poetry collection, continues her exploration of the natural world, especially its watery depths and the animals that live or at least struggle to survive within or near the sea.
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that → continue → sea
As the Tour Guide at the Ocean Park Marina and Aquarium puts it, “Everything you see is food, sex or death.”
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you → put → it
Whether it’s sea eagles nesting, parrotfish pecking at coral, sea snakes copulating or crabs being cracked open to eat, Maling’s words are visceral and sometimes startling.
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words → ’ → coral
Among her descriptions of the birds and beasts, she also writes about motherhood and her young son.
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she → write → motherhood
Sometimes Maling’s metaphorical reach will make you stop and consider the world anew – she describes rock as “breaking out of the earth like bones” and an octopus’ nodules like “Mardi Gras beads, but finer filigree.”
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she → make → beads
Noni has flown into New York from WA and barely settled in her Harlem apartment when she discovers that her new flatmate, Vincent, a self-styled transcendental meditation guru with millions of followers and millions in a trust fund, has disappeared.
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flatmate → fly → fund
Maybe he’s too busy trying to find himself?
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he → ’ → himself
Though Noni has distractions of her own – she’s failing to combat imposter syndrome at a prestigious writing program – she becomes invested in finding him.
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she → have → him
Noni’s trying to think of a story for her class while navigating the strangeness of a new city; the missing Vincent may just be the catalyst she needs.
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she → try → city
Gone Guru is an auto-fiction, with Nadine Browne drawing on her own experiences.
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Browne → go → experiences
, the book is an enjoyable and funny romp that surveys serious issues (race, class, identity, literature, culture) with a light touch.
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that → survey → touch
History is, of course, about far more than heroes and villains, but they can be a lot of fun, as The Rest is History podcast team demonstrates in this collection of cameos.
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team → demonstrate → cameos
And they’re not all human, either.
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they → ’re → ?
Like Wojtek, the Syrian brown bear adopted by the Polish army in exile during WWII, who lugged heavy crates of munitions up the slopes of Monte Cassino, Italy, during the Allied advance and made a highly valued contribution to the war effort.
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who → adopt → effort
Much loved by the troops, and with a penchant for cigarettes and stealing women’s underwear, Wojtek eventually died in the Edinburgh Zoo, an undisputed hero with his own statue.
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Wojtek → love → statue
…and 29 more, not listed.
The Aporia
