LITERARY FICTION










THE CITY OF MIST by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (W&N £14.99, 192 pp)

CITY OF MIST by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (W&N £14.99, 192 pp)

THE CITY OF MIST

by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

(W&N £14.99, 192 pp)

Carlos Ruiz Zafon was just 55 when he passed away last year. His Cemetery Of Forgotten Books series left behind millions. The slim volume-cum spin-off of Carlos Ruiz Zafon will offer some comfort.

True, a number of the stories collected here are ephemeral, such as a ‘divertimento’ that conjures with the life and work of Cervantes, or a Christmas ghost story from a tried-and-tested Gothic mould that asks to be read aloud.

Two-Minute Apocalypse, in which a beautiful red-headed, silver-eyed, fallen angel ushers in the world’s end, conforms exactly to trade descriptions. But there are rather more substantial pieces, perhaps the most purely satisfying of which involves a network of hitmen operating in Franco’s Madrid.

And as well as allusions to the Forgotten Books novels themselves, there’s everywhere evidence of the storytelling skill and intoxicating tropes — Faustian pacts, fateful meetings, labyrinthine architecture and nested stories — that made Zafon such a phenomenon.

THE RETREAT by Alison Moore (Salt £9.99, 192 pp)

THE RETREAT Alison Moore (Salt £9.99, 192 pp)

THE RETREAT

by Alison Moore

(Salt £9.99, 192 pp)

As this novel reveals, novels set in islands are known for taking unexpected turns. But readers of Alison Moore’s Booker-shortlisted The Lighthouse will know that her speciality is slow-building unease rather than obvious jump scares.

It’s the same with this. Sandra is a painter and Carol is a writer. Together, they search for inspiration on isolated, adjacent islands.

The abundance of romantic myths about the artist are reflected in numerous references to fairytales. Certainly Sandra — having hoped to find a like-minded community — finds instead that the retreat she’s signed up for is anything but supportive. The scenes in which her smugly awful fellow guests seemingly conspire to make her as uncomfortable as possible are both comic and excruciating — they’re also the highlight.

There are also questions. How should we interpret a late-arriving double? Moore is not willing to give interpretations, which seems fitting for a novel about the importance of artistic obscurity.

SOMEBODY LOVES YOU by Mona Arshi (And Other Stories £11.99, 176 pp)

SOMEBODY LOVES You Mona Arshi (And Other Stories £11.99, 176 pp)

SOMEBODY LOVES YOU

by Mona Arshi

(And Other Stories £11.99, 176 pp)

We all know that Scheherazade used to talk, but Ruby, a British Indian girl, in this moving, episodic tale of coming-of-age, is not so sure. What did this mean for her? She was married to a serial killer, despite all of her tales.

Seen like this, Ruby’s own therapist-defying decision to retreat into silence makes perfect sense; it’s also, as we come to understand, a response to her mother’s mental illness — a combination of mania and depression that silently shapes the family around it.

Unfolding in a series of vignettes and snapshots, patterned with evocative motifs and sharp-edged images, and peopled with keenly drawn characters, the award-winning poet Arshi’s original and inventive fiction debut folds in other big issues, too, not least racism. But although this is a novel that is powerfully aware of the potency of words, it’s executed with admirable delicacy.

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