julesce · September 18, 2025 07:57
diff --git a/gistfile1.txt b/gistfile1.txt
 Drayton and Mackenzie. By Alexander Starritt. Swift Press; 512 pages; £16.99
 Two very different men, James and Roland, meet as young adults. Both seek success, first as management consultants, then as entrepreneurs in the field of green energy. As they navigate private pain and the turmoil of the global financial crash of 2007-09, they increasingly value their friendship. Both characters are expertly drawn in this funny, touching story.

 Dusk. By Robbie Arnott. Astra House; 272 pages; $26. Chatto & Windus; £16.99
 A puma roams the Tasmanian highlands, killing sheep and their shepherds. Iris and Floyd, twins and social outcasts, join the hunt in hope of securing a considerable bounty. This brings them into contact with another tracker, Patrick, who is cunning and dangerous. This is a propulsive novel of survival and betrayal, enriched by arresting depictions of nature.

 Flashlight. By Susan Choi. Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 464 pages; $30. Jonathan Cape; £20
 One night, while on holiday in Japan, ten-year-old Louisa and her father go for a walk along a beach. The next day she is found half-dead and her parent has disappeared. At home in America, Louisa and her mother attempt to make sense of the mystery that rocked their lives. A meditation on identity and displacement that is full of twists and turns.

 The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny. By Kiran Desai. Hogarth; 688 pages; $32. Hamish Hamilton; 688 pages; £25
 An engrossing story of two young Indians trying to make it in America. Sonia is an aspiring novelist in Vermont; Sunny is a journalist in New York. They meet and fall in love, but the question is whether they are able to stay together, find happiness and feel “life growing bigger”. This book is grand in sweep—it traverses continents and features a large cast of characters—and yet satisfyingly intimate.

 Seascraper. By Benjamin Wood. Viking; 176 pages; £14.99. To be published in America by Scribner in November; $26
 This novel chronicles two days in the life of Thomas Flett, a young Englishman who works as a “shanker”, scouring a desolate stretch of beach for shrimp. When Edgar Acheson, an American film director, arrives to woo his mother, Thomas sees an opportunity to leave his hardscrabble existence behind and pursue his dream of being a folk singer. But is the visitor all he claims to be?

 Sympathy Tower Tokyo. By Qudan Rie. Translated by Jesse Kirkwood. Summit Books; 208 pages; $27. Viking; 144 pages; £10.99
 The winner of Japan’s prestigious Akutagawa prize, this novel is set in an imagined future and revolves around Sara Machina, an architect tasked with designing a skyscraper in which convicted criminals can live in comfort. Sara, a victim of sexual assault, is uncomfortable with the commission and seeks guidance from a chatbot. A bold interrogation of crime, punishment and redemption.

 Vulture. By Phoebe Greenwood. Europa Editions; 256 pages; $27. 300 pages; £16.99
 This scathing send-up of war reporting follows Sara, a young English freelance reporter, as she covers conflict in Gaza in 2012. Frustrated by “monkey journalism”, and determined to make a name for herself by writing a hard-edged front-page story, she ignores the warnings of her translator and fixer and goes recklessly in search of an exclusive. Soon she is dangerously out of her depth. A supremely accomplished debut full of wit and bite.

 What We Can Know. By Ian McEwan. Knopf; 320 pages; $30. Jonathan Cape; £22
 In 2014 a celebrated poet reads his latest work, dedicated to his wife, at her birthday party. Then the poem goes missing. In 2119 an academic trawls through archives in his quest to track down the lost poem. His discovery yields an account of passion, murder and guilt. Ian McEwan combines a post-apocalyptic dystopia, a love story and a thrilling mystery to great effect: this is an inventive and exquisitely written book. ■

 For more on the latest books, films, TV shows, albums and controversies, sign up to Plot Twist, our weekly subscriber-only newsletter
	Drayton and Mackenzie. By Alexander Starritt. Swift Press; 512 pages; £16.99
	Two very different men, James and Roland, meet as young adults. Both seek success, first as management consultants, then as entrepreneurs in the field of green energy. As they navigate private pain and the turmoil of the global financial crash of 2007-09, they increasingly value their friendship. Both characters are expertly drawn in this funny, touching story.

	Dusk. By Robbie Arnott. Astra House; 272 pages; $26. Chatto & Windus; £16.99
	A puma roams the Tasmanian highlands, killing sheep and their shepherds. Iris and Floyd, twins and social outcasts, join the hunt in hope of securing a considerable bounty. This brings them into contact with another tracker, Patrick, who is cunning and dangerous. This is a propulsive novel of survival and betrayal, enriched by arresting depictions of nature.

	Flashlight. By Susan Choi. Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 464 pages; $30. Jonathan Cape; £20
	One night, while on holiday in Japan, ten-year-old Louisa and her father go for a walk along a beach. The next day she is found half-dead and her parent has disappeared. At home in America, Louisa and her mother attempt to make sense of the mystery that rocked their lives. A meditation on identity and displacement that is full of twists and turns.

	The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny. By Kiran Desai. Hogarth; 688 pages; $32. Hamish Hamilton; 688 pages; £25
	An engrossing story of two young Indians trying to make it in America. Sonia is an aspiring novelist in Vermont; Sunny is a journalist in New York. They meet and fall in love, but the question is whether they are able to stay together, find happiness and feel “life growing bigger”. This book is grand in sweep—it traverses continents and features a large cast of characters—and yet satisfyingly intimate.

	Seascraper. By Benjamin Wood. Viking; 176 pages; £14.99. To be published in America by Scribner in November; $26
	This novel chronicles two days in the life of Thomas Flett, a young Englishman who works as a “shanker”, scouring a desolate stretch of beach for shrimp. When Edgar Acheson, an American film director, arrives to woo his mother, Thomas sees an opportunity to leave his hardscrabble existence behind and pursue his dream of being a folk singer. But is the visitor all he claims to be?

	Sympathy Tower Tokyo. By Qudan Rie. Translated by Jesse Kirkwood. Summit Books; 208 pages; $27. Viking; 144 pages; £10.99
	The winner of Japan’s prestigious Akutagawa prize, this novel is set in an imagined future and revolves around Sara Machina, an architect tasked with designing a skyscraper in which convicted criminals can live in comfort. Sara, a victim of sexual assault, is uncomfortable with the commission and seeks guidance from a chatbot. A bold interrogation of crime, punishment and redemption.

	Vulture. By Phoebe Greenwood. Europa Editions; 256 pages; $27. 300 pages; £16.99
	This scathing send-up of war reporting follows Sara, a young English freelance reporter, as she covers conflict in Gaza in 2012. Frustrated by “monkey journalism”, and determined to make a name for herself by writing a hard-edged front-page story, she ignores the warnings of her translator and fixer and goes recklessly in search of an exclusive. Soon she is dangerously out of her depth. A supremely accomplished debut full of wit and bite.

	What We Can Know. By Ian McEwan. Knopf; 320 pages; $30. Jonathan Cape; £22
	In 2014 a celebrated poet reads his latest work, dedicated to his wife, at her birthday party. Then the poem goes missing. In 2119 an academic trawls through archives in his quest to track down the lost poem. His discovery yields an account of passion, murder and guilt. Ian McEwan combines a post-apocalyptic dystopia, a love story and a thrilling mystery to great effect: this is an inventive and exquisitely written book. ■

	For more on the latest books, films, TV shows, albums and controversies, sign up to Plot Twist, our weekly subscriber-only newsletter