GO GENTLE by Maria Semple (W&N £20, 384pp)
In this wealthy-art-world comic mystery, Adora Hazzard, in-house philosopher to a super-rich family, meets sexy stranger Digby at the opera.
Then a mysterious statue arrives at her boss’s New York mansion, accompanied by a secretive French woman.
Via a detour into Adora’s screenwriter past, the conundrum ends explosively in a beautifully-evoked Paris. What does Digby have to do with it all? I didn’t follow every single plot twist, but the characters are great.
Semple’s witty, snappy, narrative bowls one happily along, with a sprinkling of Stoic wisdom for good measure.
THE DRIVING SEAT by Abigail Abbas (Polygon £9.99, 288pp)
I completely adored this sad, quirky and funny caper.
Desperate Emma takes her baby and flees London, her horrid husband and his ghastly mother. On the run and in disguise, she works as chauffeur to a glam, eccentric marchioness.
Home is now a creepy Scottish estate cottage which someone tries to set on fire. Is it one of the hostile locals or the husband still on her tail?
It’s stuffed with brilliant characters, from the local childminder to the tactiturn estate manager, and you root for Emma throughout.
Full of warmth, sympathy and hard-won wisdom, this is definitely my read of the week.
FEMME FERAL by Sam Beckbessinger (Bloomsbury £18.99 384pp)
Billed as a ‘feminist satire-cum-werewolf horror’, this energetic novel stars Ellie, CEO of a tech startup.
She’s frustrated with her husband, worried about her daughter, furious about her work and is hitting the menopause.
The latter surely explains the thick new hairs on her body, the memory blackouts, the rage and the nocturnal ramblings.
Meanwhile, across London, pensioner Brenda is investigating some horribly visceral local cat deaths.
This heavily metaphoric take on the later-life lot of women won’t be to everyone’s taste (cat lovers especially). But Ellie’s multiple burdens are something we can all relate to.
