Flashlight to Katabasis: 18 of the best books of the year so far
Hall is the author of novels including the Booker-nominated The Electric Michelangelo (2004) and 2021's Burntcoat, and creator of several short-story collections. Weather and landscape have often been her concerns, as they are here, in a deeply researched historical "cli-fi" that took Hall the best part of 20 years to finish. The central character (and title) of Helm is Britain's only named wind, which occurs in a particular part of Cumbria, where Hall grew up. She brings together strands that chart humankind's attempts to master the wind, from prehistoric times to the present day, where her protagonist is Dr Selima Satur, a climatologist whose research suddenly makes headlines. "Helm is as vital, fierce and free as the phenomenon it describes," writes the FT. The Guardian praises Hall's "virtuosic" writing, "a tough and supple poetry anchored in decades of attention to Cumbrian land and plants and skies." (RL)
Good and Evil and Other Stories by Samanta Schweblin
Each of the six stories in this collection by Argentinian author Samanta Schweblin features characters at pivotal moments that quickly shift to something deeply unsettling. A mother surfaces from a lake, having witnessed something awful; a young father is haunted by a moment of distraction that has had profound consequences; a lonely woman's compassionate act is met with a frightening home invasion. From the opening "bravura" story onwards, says The Guardian, Schweblin "looks at the world directly, piercing its deceptive surface, allowing the reader to do the same". The author's "directness and clarity of language opens a unique emotional terrain where fear and compassion conjoin". Good and Evil and Other Stories is, says Service95, a "a strange and unnerving collection of short stories", and "the 'horror' here is subtle, psychological and deeply personal". The stories "linger like a strange aftertaste, forcing anyone who reads to confront ambiguity, dread and the raw complexity of being human". (LB)
Flashlight by Susan Choi
Ten-year-old Louisa is found on a beach in Japan, her father missing and presumed drowned, and from there the story unfolds across generations and continents, exploring Louisa's family background that spans North Korea and the US. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Susan Choi's sixth novel shifts genres from satire to drama, and from coming-of-age novel to international thriller. "Intricate, surprising and profound" is how it is described by the Booker judges. "It is a riveting exploration of identity, hidden truths, race, and national belonging" that "deftly cross-crosses continents and decades". The author, they conclude, "balances historical tensions and intimate dramas with remarkable elegance". Choi's characterisation is "patient and sure-handed", says the Times Literary Supplement. Flashlight is "epic" and "elegiac". (LB)
