Anne Enright’s damaged lives
In The Wren, The Wren, the Irish author rigorously traces the line between love and trauma.
ByFiction reviews
Discover the best contemporary literature with the New Statesman’s expert reviews. From debut novels to short stories and literary veterans, get inspired here.
Goodreads is degrading our literary culture
Everyone can, and should, be a critic. But the reviews website is having a sinister effect on books.
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Why literary snobs don’t get Bridget Jones
Moralising critics forget the importance of fiction holding up a mirror to society’s flaws.
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Cormac McCarthy’s existential Westerns
In his career-defining Border Trilogy, the late novelist summoned the ghosts of America’s bloody history.
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From the war in Ukraine to the life of Roger Deakin: new books reviewed in short
Also featuring Anna Metcalfe’s Chrysalis and Octavia Bright’s This Ragged Grace.
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Catherine Lacey’s biography that isn’t
In inventing a figure who rubbed shoulders with David Bowie and Susan Sontag, the American novelist thrillingly subverts the conventions…
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The best fiction books for 2023
The year’s publishing highlights, including new novels by Salman Rushdie, Diana Evans and Eleanor Catton.
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Eleanor Catton and the problem with “literary thrillers”
Her new novel raises the question: is the genre code for a thriller that simply isn’t very thrilling?
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Victory City: Salman Rushdie’s story factory
Rushdie’s new novel, completed before his attack, is a fable that displays his overweening faith in narrative.
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From Cariad Lloyd to Ayòbámi Adébáyò: new titles reviewed in short
Also featuring Tomorrow Perhaps the Future by Sarah Watling and Away From Beloved Lover by Dee Peyok.
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How The Last of Us turns the apocalypse into mindless entertainment
The latest show to profit from our obsession with dystopia reveals the limits of the genre.
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From Don Paterson to Brigitte Reimann: new titles reviewed in short
Also featuring Pegasus by Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud and Sensational by Ashley Ward.
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Bret Easton Ellis’s death wish
The Shards, the author’s first novel in 13 years, is an Eighties-set autofiction thriller that plays on our cultural addiction…
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Yiyun Li’s The Book of Goose: in the shadow of Elena Ferrante
This under-powered story of a morbid teenage friendship in rural France cannot avoid comparisons to the Neapolitan Quartet.
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The Passenger: The phantom world of Cormac McCarthy
In The Passenger, his first novel for 16 years, the great American writer offers a study of living without answers.
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From Jim Crace to Cosey Fanni Tutti: recent books reviewed in short
Also featuring titles by Lawrence Osborne and Matthew Yeomans.
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Thus Bad Begins confirms Javier Marías as a master of the novel form
Marías’ masterful expression of his characters’ psychological weather, combined with Margaret Jull Costa’s gifted translation, makes for rewarding reading.
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Donna Tartt’s The Secret History at 30
How a bestselling debut novel about a group of murderous students became a cult classic.
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Reviewed in short: New books by Guy Standing, Stu Hennigan, Jessica Andrews and Don Paterson
The Blue Commons by Standing, Ghost Signs by Hennigan, Milk Teeth by Andrews and The Arctic by Paterson.
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The best children’s books for summer 2022
Magic and nature help children confront their fears in the best new books for young readers.
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