Autumn 2023 Preview

JULY

A Wreath for the Enemy by Pamela Frankau | Fiction | PB | £9.99 | 7 July

Compellingly told in a series of first-person narratives, A Wreath for the Enemy explores death, morality, friendship and shows just how brittle and chaotic our lives can become once they collide explosively with those around us.

‘Pamela Frankau uses a large canvas with great deftness, and her dialogue is a joy.’ Sunday Times

AUGUST

Take What You Need by Idra Novey | Fiction | PB | £9.99 | 3 August

New York Times Editor’s Choice | Wall Street Journal Best Fiction for Spring 2023

Cast in the spectral quiet of the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania, this deeply atmospheric book focuses on the fragile relationship between Leah and her stepmother, Jean, a self-taught inspired by the works of Louise Bourgeois and Agnes Martin. In this novel of ideas with a propulsive plot, characters take what’s discarded – from a desolate landscape and damaged relationships – and make something meaningful.

‘Exhilarating, a major novel. I read it in a white heat.’ Garth Greenwell

SEPTEMBER

Sheep’s Clothing by Celia Dale | Fiction | PB | £9.99 | 28 September

From the queen of the suburban terror story comes a tale of confidence tricksters and menace. First published in 1988, Sheep’s Clothing is a sinister and beautifully crafted depiction of the horror that can lurk beneath even the most respectable façades. Dale masterfully dissects the little cruelties of life as her characters roam the streets of London, forcing us to consider the question: what harm can it do to have a chat and a cup of tea?

‘Dale makes it matter as always with her keen eye and ear and unfailing empathy for the drab, the lonely and the quotidian.’ Sunday Times

OCTOBER

Kibogo by Scholastique Mukasonga | Tr Mark Polizzotti |Fiction | PB | £9.99 | 5 October

By the critically acclaimed author of Our Lady of the Nile and The Barefoot Woman

In four beautifully woven parts, Mukasonga spins a marvellous recounting of the clash between ancient Rwandan beliefs and the missionaries determined to replace them with European Christianity.

‘Mukasonga breathes upon a vanished world and brings it to life in all its sparkling multifariousness’ J. M. Coetzee.

Lord Jim at Home by Dinah Brooke | With a foreword by Ottessa Moshfegh | Fiction | PB | £9.99 | 12 October

When Lord Jim at Home was first published in 1973, it was described as ‘squalid and startling’, ‘nastily horrific’, and a ‘monstrous parody’ of upper-middle class English life. As Ottessa Moshfegh writes in her foreword to this new edition, Brooke evokes childhood vulnerability and adult cruelty ‘in a way that nice people are too polite to admit they understand.’

‘A very clever and very alarming novel.’ Financial Times