Published 14 May by William Collins
Wives Like Us by Plum Sykes
Plum Sykes’s delectable new novel, Wives Like Us, bears a strong resemblance to the Austen-era novels of the 19th century, although it’s no longer a fortune of ten thousand pounds that makes a country gentleman a desired catch but a fortune of innumerable sums (and potentially unspeakable provenance). The silly, lovable heroines at the heart of this satire are mostly paired up anyway – but what’s to stop them from hunting for husband number two? Sykes sets the modern-day measures of social influence (Instagram followers, bikini line start-ups, glam teams at one’s beck and call) against the traditional Cotswolds landscape of manor houses and horse stables, and the result is a delightful mash-up: a loving portrait of a social milieu that recognises the value of tradition but is also perpetually chasing what’s new. – CS
Published 14 May by Bloomsbury
All Fours by Miranda July
Miranda July’s All Fours begins as a droll and deadpan account of a Los Angeles creative adrift in her forties – semi-famous, married, one child, between projects – embarking on a two-week driving trip across America to prove to herself (and to her husband) that she can be adventurous. About 15 minutes out of town, she parks the car at a rundown motel and begins an odyssey of a different kind, one that involves sex, interior design, and bouts of self-abnegation. This is a frank novel about a midlife awakening, which is funnier and more boldly human than you ever quite expect. July has already perfected a kind of haute, hip whimsy in film and fiction; the bravery of All Fours is nothing short of riveting. – TA
Published 16 May by Canongate
This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud
Claire Messud has transformed three generations of her family’s story into a tour de force in This Strange Eventful History. Spanning 70 years, this novel of tremendous scope and piercing intimacy – Messud’s best since 2006’s The Emperor’s Children – begins in 1940 Algeria and traces the Cassar family, pieds-noirs displaced by Algerian independence, as they move across the world, stopping in France, Canada, Argentina, Australia, and the US. All around them are the upheavals of the 20th century, but though Messud is working on a grand canvas, her skill is in miniature. History is dazzling in its fine-tuned character studies: François Cassar, striving and painfully dignified as he forges a middle-class life as an executive for a French steel corporation; François’s spinster sister, stuck in a family apartment in Toulon, France, concealing the damage of lost love; François’s Canadian wife, Barbara, who is as magnetic as she is resentful; their two daughters (one, an aspiring novelist, a stand-in for the author); and even more characters and family members, all beautifully realised. This is a pointillist novel, profound in its portrayal of strains, bonds, and heartbreak. – TA
