5 new books to read this week
This week’s bookcase includes reviews of Another Person by Kang Hwagil and The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende.
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Your support makes all the difference.Chilean writer Isabel Allende returns with her latest novel, a fictional look at refugees over the ages…
Fiction
1. Another Person by Kang Hwagil, translated by Clare Richards, is published in paperback by Pushkin Press, priced £14.99 (ebook £9.99). Available now
Another Person is a confronting and timely book about consent, toxic masculinity, sexual assault and how women are treated in South Korea, by one of the country’s most prominent feminist writers. It starts with a young woman, Jina, locking herself away in her apartment, after she revealed to the world she was assaulted at work – but the internet swiftly turned on her, accusing her of being a liar and trying to ruin a promising young man’s life. The experience makes Jina explore her past at Anjin University, thinking back to what really happened during her time there – particularly to one student, Ha Yuri, who everyone wrote off as promiscuous and mysteriously died. It’s told from different viewpoints, helping the reader build a full – and shocking – picture of what it’s like to be a woman in South Korea; it’s a powerful look at sexism and assault in university campuses and beyond.9/10(Review by Prudence Wade)
2. Radical Love by Neil Blackmore is published in hardback by Hutchinson Heinemann, priced £16.99 (ebook £5.99). Available now
John Church is a preacher on mission to spread a message of love – but Regency London is not a society which tolerates outsiders. For those who experience ‘unnatural’ desires, the city is a place of fear, where love can survive only in the shadows of street corners, in secret molly-houses, in clandestine moments snatched when backs are turned. But Church is a passionate man, and when his desires are sparked by a meeting with intellectual ex-slave Ned, a flame is ignited in him which threatens to consume them both. Blunt, raw and unapologetically sexual, Radical Love is a story of human flaws, the dangers of both honesty and deception, and idealism in the face of cruel reality. With plenty of references to penetrating truths that still resonate two centuries later, it holds a lens up to 19th-century existence, whilst asking uncomfortable questions of our own. It is a story of the search for freedom and for acceptance, and it demands an answer: how high a price must be paid for the radical pursuit of love?8/10(Review by Hannah Colby)
3. The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende is published in hardback by Bloomsbury, priced £18.99 (ebook £13.29). Available now
Legendary Chilean writer Isabel Allende’s latest offering is a fictional look at immigration and refugees. It starts in the 1930s, where six-year-old Samuel – who is Jewish – is separated from his parents after Kristallnacht and sent to England on the Kindertransport. Later, this is mirrored in the present day with the story of Anita Diaz – who has fled violence in El Salvador and made the dangerous trip to the US, only to be separated from her mother. It’s particularly fashionable in fiction right now to have books from multiple perspectives – sometimes it can be powerful, but for The Wind Knows My Name, it makes things feel a bit disjointed. While Allende’s prose is polished and beautiful – as is to be expected of her – the similarities of the two stories is altogether too obvious to be that clever, making the link feel a bit forced.6/10(Review by Prudence Wade)
Non-fiction
4. Fearless: Adventures With Extraordinary Women by Louise Minchin is published in hardback by Bloomsbury Sport, priced £18.99 (ebook £13.29). Available now
It wasn’t enough for former BBC Breakfast presenter Louise Minchin to write true stories of women who have taken on mega-challenges, including freediving in Finland’s ice and swimming in the shark-invested waters of Alcatraz. Oh no, the broadcaster and triathlete was going to do it with them. Over 17 chapters, each charting a different adventure, this book celebrates the bravery of these women of all backgrounds, religions, ages, shapes and sizes, as she joins them in everything from wild caving in the Mendip Hills to diving under a one-metre cut-out of ice in the centre of a frozen lake, to emerge out of another ice hole 15 metres away. Many adventures are terrifying, some are painful, all are exhilarating. It’s interesting, too, that her back story for doing the book stems partly from her BBC battles over male-dominated adventure stories, when she felt women’s feats should be equally highlighted. It’ll leave you feeling inspired, thrilled – and utterly exhausted.9/10(Review by Hannah Stephenson)
Children’s book of the week
5. Flora And Nora Hunt For Treasure by Kim Hillyard is published in paperback by Ladybird, priced £7.99 (ebook £5.99). Available June 8
Flora And Nora Hunt For Treasure is Kim Hillyard’s fourth picture book. The story follows two best friends Flora and Nora, a pair of sea-faring cats, on an adventure – finding out how they react when disaster strikes. On their quest for treasure, the boat they are on is hit by lightning, splits in two, and leaves the cats separated, with no way of contacting one another. The book is beautifully illustrated and easy to follow for a three-year-old. It provides important lessons about friendship, not giving up and an understanding that everyone is different. The snappy, simple narrative is complemented by colourful pictures that encourage imaginations to run wild – which is exactly what you want from a children’s story.8/10(Review by Lauren Westmoreland)
BOOK CHARTS FOR THE WEEK ENDING JUNE 3
HARDBACK (FICTION)1. Yellowface by Rebecca F Kuang2. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros3. Atlas by Lucinda Riley & Harry Whittaker4. Happy Place by Emily Henry5. The Happy Couple by Naoise Dolan6. Killing Moon by Jo Nesbo7. Henry VIII by Alison Weir8. The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence9. Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson10. The Making Of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece by Tom Hanks(Compiled by Waterstones)
HARDBACK (NON-FICTION)1. The Extra Mile by Kevin Sinfield2. Bored Of Lunch by Nathan Anthony3. The Future Of Geography by Tim Marshall4. Eject! Eject! by John Nichol5. The Wager by David Grann6. Johnson At 10 by Anthony Seldon & Raymond Newell7. Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken8. How Westminster Works… And Why It Doesn’t by Ian Dunt9. But What Can I Do? by Alastair Campbell10. Uhtred’s Feast by Bernard Cornwell & Suzanne Pollak(Compiled by Waterstones)
AUDIOBOOKS (FICTION AND NON-FICTION)1. Lady’s Well by LJ Ross2. Atomic Habits by James Clear3. A Lesson In Dying by Ann Cleeves4. Killing Moon by Jo Nesbo & Seán Kinsella5. Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken6. Spare by The Duke of Sussex7. Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus8. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman9. Confessions Of A Forty-Something F–k Up by Alexandra Potter10. The Couple At No. 9 by Claire Douglas(Compiled by Audible)