Let’s Recommend | Dystopian Fiction

Let’s recommend some dystopian fiction.

This time round, I’m going to recommend a few of my favourite dystopian stories. As always with this series, I invite you all to exchange your own recommendations in return.

The Trees by Ali Shaw

Undeniably strange in places, this book is one for those who want to be swept up in a tale that is dark and unsettlingly magical in tone. The story opens when the ground erupts with endless numbers of trees, tearing apart the landscape, displacing people, and ending their way of life as they knew it. We follow a group of four characters as they attempt to understand their new world, and to navigate the now hostile environment, encountering dangers from the people, animals and strange new creatures that now call the forests home. The characters are all complex and flawed; the prose lush and vivid; and the genre-defying story a tapestry of adventure, fantasy, and mythology, whilst also being something of a fable for the modern world.

The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

I won’t say much about the plot of this one, to preserve the experience of seeing the truth unfold, but I will say that this book manages to bring a fresh take to a much-explored sub-genre of dystopian fiction. It’s a thrilling read, and yet it poses big questions about what it truly means to be human, and what we are capable of in terms of both compassion and cruelty. It’s brutal at times, and yet always full of heart, with the story itself carried by a fantastically well-realised young heroine.

Bird Box by Josh Malerman

This is one of the most intense, claustrophobic, horrifying and captivating books I’ve ever read. It’s a masterclass in the fear of the unknown, and a fantastic example of the ways an author can toy with our senses to elicit an emotional response. Plot-wise, there is something outside. No one knows what it is or where it came from, but a single glimpse is enough to drive you to insanity and deadly violence. The pacing, plot, characters, and atmosphere are all brilliantly handled, combining to create a haunting tale that has stayed with me so strongly.

The Beauty by Aliya Whiteley

In this ethereal, hypnotic read, women have been wiped out by a fungal infection. Men await inevitable death, exchanging stories of the women they have lost, until a bizarre new species begins to grow from the bodies of the deceased. It is both beautiful and disturbing in equal measure; at once a dark and quietly terrifying dystopian, and a fascinating exploration of gender roles and the importance of storytelling. Through gorgeous prose and a fever dream of events, Whiteley ultimately asks us to question the importance we place on physical beauty in women, and the extent to which man is predisposed to revert to violence.

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What are some of your favourite dystopian novels?

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Let’s Recommend | Gothic Fiction

Let’s recommend some gothic fiction

Gothic fiction is perhaps my favourite genre of all, so it feels long overdue that I recommend a few favourites. As always with this series, I invite you all to exchange your own recommendations in return.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

This, to me, is the epitome of the gothic genre at its very best. Secrets, lies, intrigue and mystery seep from the pages, as tension builds throughout. The atmosphere is enthralling and utterly immersive, with a sense of something sinister always lurking just beneath the surface. Plot wise, we follow a newly married young woman as she arrives at her husband’s estate, to find that the presence and influence of his deceased first wife still hangs over the house. At face value, it’s a fantastically gripping story, but there’s also so much else going on thematically if you want to dig a little deeper.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

This book explores notions of madness, isolation, sisterhood and othering, in a subtly affecting and deeply unsettling tale of two sisters who have been shunned from society following the strange deaths of their entire family. The narrator is a fascinating character; one that is as delightful as she is disturbed. There is a brewing sense of unease and an otherworldly tone throughout, and understated fairy tale-esque parallels towards the end that are incredibly effective in ramping up the book’s sinister edge.

The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell

This fairly recent addition to the genre features many of the classic components that have made it famous, including an isolated rural setting, a grand manor house, and a heroine out of her depth. In many ways, it could thus be seen as a love letter to the genre. There’s an undertone of witchcraft, and a flirtation between outright ghost story and possible madness in the mind of our protagonist, which I thought worked really well. There’s also a literary flair to the writing and a slight sense of whimsy that suited the tone of the novel, as well as a story-within-a-story structure that was implemented very successfully.

The Book Collector by Alice Thompson

Books, fairy tales, madness and murder – what’s not to love? This tale of obsession raises questions about what it really means to be insane, and explores the warped control that men so often had over women in the narratives of classic fairy tales; all with a deliciously sinister and feminist twist. Thompson’s writing is straight forward, and the story has a good sense of momentum and inevitability, which does well to draw allusions to the masterworks of both fairy tales and gothic literature that this book draws from and celebrates.

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What are some of your favourite gothic reads? Let’s chat about them!

Let’s Recommend | Transgender Books

Let’s recommend some transgender books.

For the latest post in my recommendation series, I’ll be highlighting some of my favourite books to include transgender characters, or to explore trans-issues. With discussion on gender at large very much needed, and the normalisation of difference key in opening up those channels of conversation, I think we could all stand to read about experiences that differ from our own. That said, I tried to include a diverse mix of books that will hopefully appeal to a wide readership; trans, cis, young, old, or otherwise.

Trumpet by Jackie Kay

The subject matter explored in Trumpet could very easily have seen the story slip into undo sensationalism, but the care and compassion that Kay grants the characters stops that from ever happening. The story centres around Joss, a publicly respected musician and family-man who is discovered only upon death to have been biologically female. We see the way various people who knew Joss and members of the public react to the revelation, but at its core, this is a heartfelt story about love. Joss’ widow, Millie, is a fantastically well-realised character, and through her, Kay shows us that we fall in love with a person, not the body they are in. The confusion and bitterness felt by their son is also heavily explored, but from an unexpected angle that I really appreciated.

The Gender Games by Juno Dawson

This is a great piece of own-voice non-fiction from a transgender author who is frank, funny and informative. Dawson mixes fact with personal experience in this quasi-memoir, exploring gender as a concept. This includes looking at the ways we subconsciously force expectations on children from birth (and why this is bad for everyone), and sharing honest stories about her own experiences whilst transitioning. She also touches on the differences she has encountered between living as a man and living as a woman. The book educates without ever bogging you down in stats, and has enough cutting-quips and brilliant pop-culture references to keep you laughing throughout.

The Sunlight Pilgrims by Jenni Fagan

An impending Ice Age forms the backdrop of this quiet, character driven tale that is set in a caravan park in Scotland. It focusses on the lives of three lost souls as they strive to find their place in a world they no longer understand. One of those characters is Stella, a feisty, brave, inquisitive, witty and headstrong trans girl. She forms the nucleus of the whole book, and I thought the looming grip of puberty which will transform her body in ways she fears more than anything was mirrored beautifully in the menacing spread of lethal ice and snow across the landscape. She also has a wonderful relationship with her mother, which is another real highlight of the book.

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

As much as it’s important to read books that fully shine the light on trans characters and issues, I think it’s also important that books exist in which trans people (and other minority groups) are simply presented like any other character, in which their gender identity is never the focus or point of the story, and they just so happen to be trans in the spirit of true, reflective diversity. This is very much the case with Eriko in Banana Yoshimoto’s Kitchen. Though she’s a supporting character with a relatively small role, she’s instantly endearing and charismatic. I loved that both her son and the book’s heroine never question her gender identity, and are instead completely laid-back and accepting about it. It’s simply never an issue. This kind of normalisation through fiction is vital.

George by Alex Gino

Seeing yourself reflected in the books you read as a child can be a profoundly powerful experience. That’s why I’m so glad George exists for young trans kids. The premise is simple but highly effective, in that everyone sees George as a boy, but she knows deep inside that she’s really a girl. With the school play of Charlotte’s Web coming up, she figures that securing the role of Charlotte will be the best way to help everyone else see her for who she really is. It’s a touching story for any age, and one that has the kind of power that could change kids’ lives.

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What are some of your favourite transgender books? Let’s chat about them in the comments.

Let’s Recommend | Family Dramas

Let’s recommend some family dramas.

Whether you’d specifically class it as a genre in its own right or not, I absolutely love a good family drama; a story that gets into the nitty-gritty of life behind closed doors, revealing the tensions of the household, and the complex web of secrets, lies and power play between the characters. Here are a few recommendations that really stood out to me, and as always, I encourage you to share your own in return.

Shelter by Jung Yun

When our protagonist’s parents are victim to a violent crime, he feels obliged to care for them, in contrast to the normally cold and tense dynamic between them. The circumstances re-open old wounds for the characters, with the book ultimately asking us to consider the extent to which we have a duty to respect and support our family, even if they haven’t earned it. The story is incredibly layered, touching on themes as varied as gender roles, racism, the class divide, Korean culture, religion and abuse, without any of them ever feeling tacked on.

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

When the body of the Lee family’s favourite child is found floating in the lake, so begins a moving look at the ways a family try and fail to understand each other, and the crippling effect of secrets, longing and resentment. We see the ways the various characters react to Lydia’s death, and being centred around a Chinese-American family in 1970s Ohio, the book also very effectively touches on racial tensions.

The Tidal Zone by Sarah Moss

This is a quiet, contemplative character study about rebuilding in the wake of disaster. The book opens when 15-year-old Miriam’s heart inexplicably stops beating. Though she is successfully revived using CPR, doctors can’t explain the scare, and her family must readjust to the reality that it could theoretically happen again at any moment. Told from the perspective of Miriam’s father, the story chronicles the frustration and constant fear that her family feels; the sense of being trapped in limbo; the need to carry on with all of life’s mundanities despite feeling like their whole world has changed; and the parents’ unwillingness to let their daughter out of their sight in contrast with her headstrong determination to live life her own way.

Stay with Me by Ayòbámi Adébáyò

The focus of this novel is the exploration of whether love and hope are enough to overcome grief. We follow a Nigerian couple who have been unable to conceive a child, which sees them put under increasing pressure from their relatives to welcome a second wife into their home in order to ensure the continuation of the male bloodline. The story itself has many unexpected twists, the characters are flawed and brilliantly well realised, and the book highlights the lies people tell each other and themselves to try and make each other happy, as well as the shame of not living up to societal norms and crippling gender expectations.

Black Sheep by Susan Hill

Bleak and harrowing, Black Sheep is about the oppression and inescapable grasp that ensnared the lower classes in rural working communities, where reputation and keeping up appearances were everything, no matter how much people may have longed for better. Our brother and sister protagonists each yearn for escape from their mundane and exhausting lives in a small mining town, and in a tone of melancholy, Hill documents their doomed attempts to break free, with devastating consequences for the whole family.

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What are some of your favourite family dramas? Let’s chat about them!

Let’s Recommend | Anti-Heroes

Let’s recommend some books with anti-heroes.

I love a good anti-hero; a character we find ourselves rooting for despite their often questionable moral compass. I’ve recommended a few of my favourite books with anti-heroes in them below, and as always, I encourage you to share your own recommendations in return.

Out by Natsuo Kirino

Written by the ‘Japanese Queen of Crime’, Out follows a group of female factory workers who band together to help their colleague quite literally get away with murder, after she kills her good-for-nothing husband. We shouldn’t want them to get away with it, and yet somehow, we do. The book brilliantly documents the different ways the pressure of covering up their secret affects the various women, whilst also exploring the grimy underbelly of Japan’s yakuza, and the divisions in society between rich and poor, and men and women.

All We Shall Know by Donal Ryan

Donal Ryan managed to catch me off guard repeatedly throughout All We Shall Know. With a single line that seemingly comes out of nowhere, he can make you see his protagonist, Melody, in a completely different light time and time again, increasingly exposing her flaws and complexities and thus making us question her very morality, whilst still maintaining our sympathies for her. It’s a book about love, betrayal, forgiveness and the letting go of guilt, lest it cause a poisonous ripple effect throughout the lives of everyone around us, as Melody seeks redemption from her past.

The Butcher’s Hook by Janet Ellis

In this dark and immersive historical fiction novel, Ellis has done incredibly well to create a main character, Anne Jaccob, that is so unforgivable in her actions and yet charismatic and compelling enough that we want to keep reading about her regardless. This book is in essence an exploration of a young woman’s descent into a state completely lacking any sense of humanity, as she becomes increasingly apathetic towards those around her and takes drastic steps to be with the object of her obsessions, and avoid being married off to a man she loathes.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

What’s interesting about Frankenstein is that both the eponymous doctor and his creation can equally be seen as the hero or the villain of the story, ultimately making them both classic examples of an anti-hero. Shelley repeatedly asks us to consider who the true monster really is; Frankenstein, for meddling with science and abandoning his own creation, like a God-gone-wrong; or the fruits of his labour, who channels his repeated rejection into violence and deadly rage. The duality of power and cruelty that man is capable of is, after all, represented in both characters, hence why they come to hate each other despite their inability to cut the ties that bind them.

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What books with anti-heroes in them have you enjoyed? Let’s chat about them in the comments.

Let’s Recommend | Halloween Reads

Let’s recommend some reads for Halloween

With Halloween fast approaching, I thought now would be the perfect time to once again recommend a few creepy reads, in case you’re on the lookout for something to get you into the spirit of the season as the day itself draws ever closer.

Final Girls by Riley Sager

Final Girls is like a love letter to the horror genre, indulging in many of the old-school tropes that make it famous, and yet in a way that really works. And so, for all its twists, tension and gore, it manages to capture a fun and even nostalgic quality that will remind you of popcorn flicks of days gone by. The characters are fleshed out, flawed and unreliable, adding to the absorbing nature of the story, which in itself centres around three young women known in the press as the Final Girls, as they were each the sole survivor of a mass murder; two of whom must band together after the other is found dead.

Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin

This is a very recent read for me, and one I suspect will linger in my mind for quite some time. It’s the story of a young couple who move into a luxury apartment block, with the wife eager to start a family. They befriend an elderly couple on their floor, but become suspicious of their true intentions when they become increasingly involved in their lives, and in particular Rosemary’s pregnancy. It gets right under your skin and builds a sense of dread incredibly well, and all at the perfect pace to keep you gripped.

The Resurrectionist by E.B. Hudspeth

The Resurrectionist is presented as though it’s non-fiction. The first half is the ‘biography’ of a famous yet hugely controversial scientist who conducted mysterious experiments in his bid to prove his hypothesis that birth defects and deformities are merely the body’s attempt to revert to former states, with all mythical beings and creatures having once been real and humans being their descendants. It’s deliberately vague and unsettling, with his obsession driving him to take drastic measures that will no doubt disturb. The second half of the book is his magnum opus; painstakingly detailed and macabre anatomical artwork that lays out how he believes such creatures would have evolved. I love the idea of people finding this book on a dusty library shelf in decades to come and believing, just for a moment, that it could perhaps be real.

Some examples of the macabre artwork found inside The Resurrectionist.

The Monkey’s Paw by W.W. Jacobs

If you’re looking for something brief to pick up of an evening and creep you out, a short story like The Monkey’s Paw could be ideal. It’s a classic of the ‘be careful what you wish for’ message, in which a family come into possession of a magical (or cursed) monkey’s paw that will grant them three wishes, though each coming with horrifying consequences they could not foresee. It’s very atmospheric and testament to the fact that what you don’t see can be as powerful and unnerving as what you do.

The Beauty by Aliya Whiteley

The Beauty is a dystopian novella that centres around a group of men after a fungal disease has wiped out all women. They await inevitable death whilst living on the memory of everything they have lost, until a strange new species begins to grow from the bodies of the deceased women. The way the men choose to treat these beings will determine the entire future of society. Whiteley manages to create a world that is both beautiful and revolting, and it’s one of those stories in which the cruelty of mankind itself becomes the true monster of the piece, with themes of gender roles and storytelling adding even greater depth to this hypnotic fever dream of a story.

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What reads would you recommend to get into the Halloween spirit?

Let’s Recommend | Short Story Collections

Let’s recommend some short story collections

Today, I’ve decided to recommend a few of my favourite short story collections. You’ll be able to tell that, as with longer-form fiction, I have a tendency to lean towards the darker side of things, and think it’s a tone that is, in fact, particularly well suited to a short story. Each of these collections contains individual stories that I think stand on their own merits, but which also combine with the others to create one cohesive work that blends well together.

The Doll by Daphne du Maurier

Ah, my beloved Daphne; mistress of intrigue and atmosphere. Several of the stories in this collection have stayed with me so vividly, including some with deliciously sinister undertones, and a couple that follow a woman who has fallen into a life of crime and prostitution, narrating her life to us like a poignant and enigmatic dramatic monologue. Being some of her earliest work, the stories show her brooding talent as a writer, and try out several different tones and themes, from light-hearted to down-right creepy, meaning it’s a great sample of how diverse she can be.

Sweet Home by Carys Bray

This collection of stories tackles all the big themes; love, loss, life and death. Most are grounded in reality and show quiet glimpses into the beauty and pain of everyday life (like an elderly woman dealing with the early onset of dementia; a helpless couple watching their son spiral into the grip of drug addiction; and a man suffering from OCD who is terrified that he’ll kill his own unborn baby), whilst some flirt with a sense of magical realism and fairy tales. All, however, offer insight into the sad struggles of everyday family life.

Revenge by Yoko Ogawa

Though they all stand on their own, the stories in this collection are all very cleverly connected in subtle ways, with characters from one re-appearing in others, sometimes in surprising ways that add new meaning to previous stories. There’s a sense of melancholy and the macabre throughout, with Ogawa exploring the hidden darkness that lurks beneath the surface of many people’s lives, with characters including a mother who buys a cake for her dead son every year on his birthday; an elderly woman with a dark secret buried beneath her vegetable patch; and a dissatisfied young woman who fantasises about torturing her boyfriend.

A Portable Shelter by Kirsty Logan

This is another collection of connected short stories, but with a bit of a twist. Between each of the stories is the ongoing narrative of two women awaiting the birth of their first child, taking turns to tell the baby tales that mask important truths about the world, having vowed never to tell the child a lie. The stories themselves are the tales they tell their soon-to-be-born baby, and they have a whimsical, fairy tale-esque feel, with Logan taking inspiration from folklore, and crafting what is essentially a love letter to the power and importance of storytelling.

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There we have it. As always, I encourage you to share your own recommendations in return, so what are some of your favourite short story collections?