Her Body Among Animals
By Paola Ferrante
Influx Press, £10.99
“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” This Krishnamurti quote comes to mind when reading Ferrante’s genre-bending short story collection. A thread of dissatisfaction runs through these eerie stories. Expect sex (not sexiness), spiders, surrealism, and a whole lot of ecological anxiety. The Silent Grave of Birds, the longest story in the collection, which recounts a tale of sexual assault, is both the most affecting and challenging, perhaps because the author loosens her grip on metaphor in this story, which in the rest of the collection serves to choke any real sense of plot and character. If you’re feeling short on hope, this is not the book to reach for.
Company
By Shannon Sanders
One, £16.99
Company opens with a family tree, beginning with Opal, the matriarch and the most beautiful of her clan, who remains on her death bed. In 13 interconnected short stories, we follow the lineage of this black American family as they receive wanted and unwanted “company” into their homes. These visits serve to unearth secrets, to unsettle histories and to disrupt peace – often for the better. Sanders’s writing is at once neat and spirited; her characters drawn with acuity and love. MacHale has “a smile like a swallow of top-shelf whiskey”, his daughters are “a storm of emotion” and his wife has “hair the colour of a well-travelled penny”. With a light hand and flare for humour, this sparkling debut marks Sanders as one to watch!
The Most
By Jessica Anthony
Doubleday, £12.99
What is it about tennis that makes the sport rife for romantic analogy? Is it that in tennis, love means nothing? Two seminal events occur on a warm winter Sunday in Delaware, 1957. The Soviets have launched Sputnik 2 into space, with a stray dog on board, spreading unease throughout the US. Meanwhile in Delaware, a marriage is at breakpoint. In a run-down apartment block in Delaware, Kathleen Beckett, a former tennis champion, remains in the complex’s outdoor swimming pool, while she decides whether to stick with her philandering husband. The answer hinges on both parties’ ability to tell the truth. What is the best strategy to take? The Most is a solid novella with the acuity of a crisp short story.
