Insider's Choice: New Scottish Books to look out for in April
An intriguing biography of Muriel Spark and an “unclassifiable” novel from David Keenan are among the new Scottish books to look out for next month, writes Vikki Reilly
What do you get when you gather together six midlist genre writers on a remote Scottish island and task them with finishing the latest manuscript from a newly dead literary legend? A damn fine premise, and an entertaining mystery novel to match. The Ending Writes Itself is the first book from Evelyn Clarke (HQ, 7 April, £16.99), otherwise known as the writing team of Edinburgh-based Cat Clarke and American YA author VE Schwab, and it is both a love letter to the act of writing and a pointed satire on the harsh realities of the publishing world, told with pace, verve and characters you will both love and hate. Ego, entitlement, insecurity, desperation and delusion are all on display as each writer tackles the quest, but their behaviour is tempered by convincing backstories, so you’ll be genuinely sorry when the body count starts to build.
Another intriguing debut is The Driver’s Seat by Abigail Abbas (Polygon, 2 April, £9.99). Emma Propeller’s life is falling apart: her domineering mother-in-law is recovering from a heart attack in her house, her business partner is pushing her out of their joint venture, she is trying to get to grips with looking after her new baby, and then her husband returns from rehab with another woman. With her confidence at rock bottom, Emma runs away with her baby to a Highland castle to work as a live-in driver for a mysterious marchioness. Emma finds, though, that however far away she is from home, it is difficult to shake her past and take control of her own destiny. The novel is a beguiling mash-up of domestic absurdity and psychological thriller as Emma takes the reader into her confidence with her Fleabag-esque confessional narration. We’re her co-conspirators and completely on her side, especially when her new life starts to fall apart.
Sticking with genre fiction, further new reading for crime fans includes Colin McIntyre’s second Ivor Punch mystery, An Island Burning (Black & White, 2 April, £9.99), while historical fiction fans should pick up Richard Strachan’s second novel, Night Fire (Raven, 23 April, £18.99), set during World War Two. Children’s writer Elle MacNicoll also releases her first foray into adult romance with Unapologetic Love Story (Macmillan, 2 April, £18.99). If you prefer your fiction on the unclassifiable side, meanwhile, look out for David Keenan’s latest novel Boyhood (White Rabbit, 9 April, £23)- a fantastical yet grounded exploration of love, family, friendship, creativity, destruction and connectedness told around the life of Glasgow boy Aaron Murray.
To non-fiction now, and I like the way James Bailey writes about Muriel Spark in his biography, Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark (Sceptre, 9 April, £20). He knows from the outset that she will be difficult to pin down, so he has great fun in exploring possibilities, imagining scenarios, creating scenes and celebrating her enigmatic writing. Still, there are facts here, and you will learn a lot, not only about Spark, but about the changing (and the depressingly persistent) sensibilities of the 20th century.
Other non-fiction titles to look forward to: Kapka Kassabova’s personal, contemporary look at the Highlands, Borrowed Land (Jonathan Cape, 9 April, £22), and Victoria Bennett’s memoir on her Orkney garden, The Apothecary by the Sea (Elliott & Thompson, 30 April, £16.99).
Vikki Reilly has worked in Scottish books for over 20 years and now works for Publishing Scotland, the trade and networking body for Scotland’s book publishing sector. She also edits BooksfromScotland.com, a website that promotes the best in Scottish writing, contemporary and classic, and supports Scottish publishers and authors to find new audiences.
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