Early Highlights of 2024

Our Favourites So Far…

Who doesn’t love a novel written by a poet? This extraordinary debut is built from the kind of satisfyingly crunchy sentences that naturally slow down your reading pace to ensure they are fully savoured. Pester summons the spirit of the lodger, the renter, the itinerant, whose being is constantly in tense negotiation with the spaces around them. These precarious states of living are the circumstances our characters find themselves in, but more than that, they press onto their selfhood; their souls imprinted with cheap furniture and other people’s rules.

20 years ago I lived in a shared house in South London with the very same Holly Pester, so it is an absolute joy to see this brilliant book in print & to recommend it heartily. As the state of housing in the UK becomes more and more dire, particularly for younger generations, we need to understand the affects of this domestic precarity on the people experiencing it. This is an excellent place to start and a brilliant book in its own right.

An imagined meeting between Hernán Cortés – Spanish conquistador, and Moctezuma – Aztec emperor, forms the crux of this visceral and frequently hallucinogenic novel. The Spanish entourage, exhausted, filthy, wildly out of their depth yet still believing themselves inherently superior to their hosts, worry about the intentions of the Aztecs, for whom human sacrifice is an importance cultural and religious practice. Moctezuma, meanwhile, is at a moment of political vulnerability and increasingly obsessed with hallucinogenic visions.

This is one of the most visually striking books I have ever read. Its impression will remain seared onto my imagination for some time to come.

Diane Oliver had four short stories published during her very brief lifetime before she tragically died in a motorcycle crash in 1966 at the age of just 22. Two more stories were published posthumously. This new collection adds another eight previously unpublished works to a book that will hopefully start to gain Oliver the readership and profile her powerful and unforgettable writing deserves.

The stories focus on the dehumanising terror of racism in 1960s America and the effects on families and individuals, particularly women. Her most well-known story, the titular Neighbors, presents the agonising turmoil a Black family face as their youngest child prepares to attend a desegregated school.

Full of indelible characters and with flashes of sharp humour, these stories are an extremely valuable introduction to a writer who was creating formidable work before her tragic, untimely death.

Near the beginning of this fascinating, in-depth look at coalition building for progressive, political change in a time of extremes, celebrated US journalist Anand Giridharadas writes, ‘This book is about (the) quest, in a time of great crises, for a politics fierce enough and unapologetic enough truly to change things and smart and expansive enough to change the minds to get there.’

Throughout the book Giridharadas doesn’t shy away from fundamental questions that arise from this quest: are progressive and just causes welcoming and inclusive? In this age of extreme polarisation is it possible to persuade people to change their minds, make them feel welcome to a cause and build coalitions? With far-reaching access to high-profile figures who have been active in coalition building and persuasion such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, political strategist Anat Shenker-Osorio and 2017 Women’s March key organiser, Linda Sarsour, Giridharadas provides ample evidence to back up the main thrust of his text.

The argument that no one changes their mind in this age of uncompromising stances has been replayed many times in the last decade or so, and it is welcome and rare to find a counter-argument that is presented with such force and comprehensive detail.

There is a magic to Sheila Heti sentences, they are always elegant, playful and philosophical, and in her new book we get to revel in her mastery as she whittled down ten years of diaries and ordered the sentences alphabetically. The result of the experiment makes for incredibly addictive reading, in addition to moments of surprising profundity by the removal of time as a narrative structure. And just like her novels, the voice maintains Heti’s knack of being totally unique and painfully relatable!

If you’re looking to get into a story with incredible cosmic scope without sacrificing the tenderness of human emotion then this book is for you! Leigh is a marine biologist studying rare forms of algae, her work takes her to remote islands, deep ocean exploration and, eventually, outer space. It is quietly astounding how McInnes weaves in Leigh’s research on early life forms and the poignancy it holds for her in relation to childhood experiences and the relationships in her life. The experience of reading this novel is both immersive and awe-inspiring.

This is a gloriously odd book. I frequently found myself wondering, as I read, whether certain aspects of it would instinctively make more sense if I was more familiar with Japan. It is a critique of Japanese work culture, body image and social rigidity, all rolled up into something of a murder mystery (kind of), all apparently based on a true story. Confused? Me too. That didn’t stop me enjoying the book though, in fact I think that is precisely why the book was enjoyable. A cult classic in Japan, the English translation by Bristol’s own Polly Barton is out on 29th February.

Earlier this week I went to see the wonderful American Fiction at the cinema (well worth going if you can). It is based on the Percival Everett novel, Erasure, and it made me look forward with even more expectation to the new Everett novel, released this April, James. The novel is a retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, from the point of view of the enslaved friend of Huck Finn, Jim.

There is surely no more fertile imagination in contemporary English language writing that Percival Everett. A new novel is a thing to be treasured.

We loved Leigh Hodgkinson’s Martha Maps it Out where we followed Martha home from her school to her apartment block, then to her bedroom, and then to a map of her mind and hopes for the future! In this second instalment we follow Martha as she maps out ancient timelines encountering dinosaurs, mammoths, and prehistoric sea creatures. Martha’s curiosity for the natural world and passion for map-making (via Hodgkinson’s fantastic illustrations) make a wonderful aid to helping preschoolers understand time and history. Published early April.

We are delighted to have been allocated three precious copies of a fine press collaboration between writer Max Porter and engraver Hilary Paynter. Fine press publications are strictly limited editions, rare and distinctly collectible. We will not have access to further copies, once ours have sold they are gone.

The Hill is a celebration of collaboration. Author & engraver, word & image, the hand & the machine combine on the page, encouraging the reader to view this place, or any hill, through the lens of both recent and ancient history.

This book is a work of art, and a unique opportunity to own a series of engravings and an original text that has been put together at every stage by two outstanding creative talents at the peak of their powers. The illustrations throughout are printed directly from Hilary’s lemonwood blocks onto Zerkall mould-made paper. The text has been set using Monotype Walbaum and is printed by letterpress on a Heidelberg Cylinder from lead type cast at Nomad Letterpress in an edition of 874 copies.