Kings of the Water by Mark Behr (Little, Brown, £12.99; Buy this book; 243pp) Michiel returns to South Africa for his mother’s funeral. He has been away since the days of apartheid, and there is family business to settle. Michiel is gay, to the fury of his autocratic Afrikaner father, and the two of them circle uneasily around an earlier tragedy — his brother’s death. Alida, the old servant, can’t help calling Michiel “Kleinbaas”, in the old style, but he struggles to recognise the new country of security fences and random murders — “how many bars are there around this stoep?” Superbly written, thoughtful and unflinching, this terrific novel explores the mentality of the Afrikaner male — with wonderfully poetic use of the Afrikaans language.
The Others by Siba al-Harez (Telegram, £10.99; Buy this book; 271pp) This caused a sensation across the Arab world, and it’s easy to see why. The author (working under a pseudonym) tells the story of an unnamed teenager at a girls’ school in Saudi Arabia who falls madly in love with Dai, a glamorous and wayward schoolmate and discovers that she is a lesbian — something that has no place in that world. Dai introduces the narrator to a secret society of lesbian parties and online flirtations, as she is torn between shame and desire. It is densely written, very earnest and entirely without humour, but no wonder. The name of the translator is withheld, at the translator’s request, which gives some idea of the courage behind the whole enterprise.
Truth or Fiction by Jennifer Johnston (Headline Review, £14.99; Buy this book; 152pp) Roddy Doyle has called her “the best writer in Ireland”, and I’m not going to argue. Any novel by the great Johnston is an event. This one is slender and slight, held together by her wisdom, pinpoint observation and elegance. Caroline Wallace, a journalist, is sent to Dublin to interview a literary giant of the Thirties. Caroline doubts the relevance of this old dinosaur, though she is happy to escape the confusion of her life in London. Can she make him interesting? She is soon surprised by revelations of “lots of sex and some violence”, and even the surprises are surprising — the ending, in particular, is richly satisfying.