Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid:

Writers will be re-writing Shakespeare for ooh, the next five billion years.  This novel is positioned as a ‘bravura reimagining’ of Shakespeare’s play.  And yes, like any work of fiction it’s perfectly acceptable to reposition, retool, retell.  Sadly, this falls between two ‘big’ genres

The big twist (as hinted by the cover) is Lady Macbeth is actually a witch called Roscille, plotting to rule Britain.  Macbeth has been under supernatural control for quite some time, with the witches locked in his castle cellar like Norman Bates’ mum.  This leap - Dunisane as Bates Motel works, but it begins to lack credibility as the plotting thickens.  

And yes, Macbeth itself is loosely based on historical events, the author reinterprets them and characters in such a confusing fashion, it causes the reader cognitive dissonance.  Midway through, there is the big leathery wingbeat of fantasy, which is where the novel really jumps the life to come.  An act of sexual violence is followed by a sex scene and it’s the kind of sexposition that George RR Martin deals in and even other writer in that genre deems necessary. Really, just stop.  

Not quite a historical novel, not quite a fantasy novel and not quite enough for both.  It’s  published by Penguin on 13th August and I thank them for a preview copy.  #ladymacbeth

 Amnesiac: A Memoir by Neil Jordan: 

Jordan is known for films such as Mona Lisa, Interview With The Vampire and Michael Collins.  Doomed, yet strangely beautiful romances.  I read a lot of autobiographies and it certainly takes an unusual approach - the odd, slightly dreamlike reminiscences of childhood, the non-linear time structures.  

However, it is often maddeningly, with one chapter as a poem and several shifts in point size and prose style.  He’s vague on his marriage, even vaguer on his second.  He’s very open in this dealing with other creators, such as the laser-like focus of Kubrick, the abandoned version of King Lear with Brando.  What comes across strongly of all, is the sense that what he has achieved isn’t enough.  Plus, that space opera with teddy bears speaking in verse might well have been something.  

If the book resembles anything, it is Anjelica Houston’s autobiography: eloquent, artful, but unfinished.  It’s published by Head Of Zeus on 20th June and I thank them for a preview copy.  

 Rare Singles - Benjamin Myers

Earlon ‘Bucky’ Bronco had a brush with fame a long time ago, but lives on in the Northern Soul scene.  Dinah, married to a dopey husband and a stoner son is his minder for a weekender in Scarborough.  And that is about as much plot as I am going to give you, because I’ll confidently predict that this will be one of the best novels you’ll read this year.

It’s an incredibly sweet, spiky, funny confection of a book.  It’s confident enough to connect its fictional universe to the talc and washers of Northern Soul.  Bucky exists in the world of Frank Wilson, Yvonne Baker and Don Thomas.  However, he also exists in the same universe as rapper Lil’ Widowmaker, a major plot point.  

It also has the bravery to have long steam of consciousness passages, retell Bucky’s life story and connect it to the grit and blunt of Yorkshire.  Dinah is as much  as fleshed out and likeable as Bucky.  There’s a happy ending, not the one you expect.  But one where the joy of music lives longer than the pain of life.  

It’s out on August 1st and I thank Bloomsbury for a preview copy.  

 Hey, Zoey by Sarah Crossan:

Dolores works in a comprehensive and David is anaesthethist. They have a nice house and good friends.  They’re also in a bit of rut.  Said rut becomes a rift,  when Dolores discovers her husband's animatronic sex doll Zoey bagged up in the garage.  

It’s an ingenious idea and one that has massive potential.  Sadly, it isn’t explored to the full extent of that.  The discovery of Zoey leads Dolores to re-evaluate her relationship (conclusion: not that great in the first place), plus the other aspects of her life (a sister with a burgeoning career  in the New York art scene/in a mental health crisis/ a mother with dementia).  The creepiest parts of the book is where Zoey becomes a BFF.  But again, the novel’s tone seems conversational, where it should be confrontational, seeming content to hint at things where it could and should have explored them further (IE Dolores considering taking her relationship with Zoey to a different level).  

It’s a high concept novel, in a year full of them.  Another fault is the novel seems glossy, yet unfinished.  And at 163 pages, some may admire the gloss, but others may feel as if playtime has ended prematurely.  It’s published by Bloomsbury on 23rd May and I thank them for a preview copy.  

 I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue:  

This is a spiky, engrossing but ultimately touching read.  Jolene is a Canadian-Iranian woman working in the admin of a supermarket chain.  Her snarky habit (sending white text emails to her colleagues about the things they do that piss her off) is rumbled.  Cliff, the IT guy adjusts her computer settings so that it can be monitored… but it also means she can see everyone else emails.  Which means she is party to loneliness, marital infidelity, abusive relationships… and the forthcoming round of redundancies.  

It’s an original conceit, definitely up there with The Husbands by Holly Gramazio.  And true, there is the odd Canadian/Iranian reference that might need a google.  But it’s brave enough to be a revenge comedy in the first third, one about dysfunctional friendships in the middle eight and take a twist that is both sweet and shocking in its final third.   

If you’ve ever experienced the silent, soul sucking snark of an office, you’ll lap this up.  Don’t buy it and you’ll get a white text from me.  It’s published by Harper Collins on 23rd of May and I thank them for a preview copy.  

 Queen B by Juno Dawson:

This is an interesting sidestep to the HMRC books (which I generally devour over a couple of days).  Presumably the next (and possibly final) book in the trilogy ‘Human Rites’ is out next year.  

Anyway, I digress, this is the Tudor backdrop to HMRC, with Anne Boleyn plotting to establish a matriarchy of witches and is betrayed by a member of her own coven.  If you read the books as quickly as I do, be aware: this is less than half the size of the average book.  Plus, Dawson writes it in style of a historical novel, but a historical novel with grime, dirt, sex and magic.  

She is always in control of the broader narrative and messages explored much further in the other books.  So much so, that this could be read by someone wanting to sample the series, or maybe this hints at the apocalyptic future that began in the last book.  

It’s published by Harper Collins on 18th July and I thank them for a preview copy.