TO BABEL AND BACK
by Robert Minhinnick
Seren, £7.99
This is not a novel, nor a collection of short stories. It is more a gallery of snapshots; a series of lightning impressions from all corners of the world — the mountains of Mexico, the Duomo at Florence. Sometimes a single picture sheds light on ancient history or contemporary politics. Vivid paragraphs straddle the divide between prose and poetry. Minhinnick’s writing is quirky, sometimes untidy, often lyrical, packed with glancing references to literary figures (Dylan Thomas makes an appearance, reminding us that the author edits Poetry Wales) and contemporary events. Not easy to read, but highly interesting to untangle.
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THE MOBILE LIBRARY: MR DIXON DISAPPEARS
by Ian Sansom
HarperPerennial, £6.99
Israel Armstrong is “an English, Jewish, vegetarian, corduroy-wearing, mobile librarian on the north coast of Northern Ireland”. He also solves mysteries. £100,000 has been stolen from Dixon and Pickering’s, an Antrim department store. Also missing is the elderly Mr Dixon, who happens to be an amateur magician. It looks like a kidnapping, and Israel is a suspect. Can he get at the truth before he loses his beloved mobile library? Israel is one of the most original and amusing amateur sleuths around — Sansom celebrates the traditional whodunnit while turning it upside down.
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THE CONCERT PIANIST
by Conrad Williams
Bloomsbury, £16.99
Writing about music is difficult — how can printed words convey the power and beauty of sound? Williams has a good stab, in this thoughtful and passionate study of a genius at a low point in his life. Philip Morahan is a great pianist who can no longer play the piano. His life, entirely devoted to the gods of music, suddenly seems pointless and arid. Has he sacrificed too much? If he no longer plays, what is the point of everything? Without the discipline of performing, he is forced to face his own past, and all the ghosts he has managed, until now, to ignore.