LITERARY FICTION

MY DEATH

by Lisa Tuttle

(New York Review Books £14.99, 144 pp)

The title of this slippery, endlessly unpackable novella, also the name of the disguised-but-graphic nude painting at its heart, is ambiguous. Is it a chilling prediction, or does it point to a wished-for ending, the consummation of a life? Even the ‘little death’ of sexual ecstasy is hinted at.

The artist is Helen Ralston, American-born but now living her twilight years in Scotland. Her output has long inspired our nameless narrator, who, when she decides to embark on a biography of Ralston, uncovers uncanny parallels in their lives. And what to make of the fact that Tuttle’s history echoes both?

Originally published in 2004, and now repackaged as a modern classic, this riddling narrative laces fiction with fact, while touching upon (among other things) the mysteries of attraction, identity and the fate of female creatives in the shadow of men.

ABSOLUTION

by Alice McDermott

(Bloomsbury £16.99, 368 pp)

McDermott’s nine previous novels have seen her nominated for the Pulitzer Prize three times, but this Vietnam-era saga has been declared her masterpiece Stateside.

It’s narrated by Tricia, who is looking back on her time in Saigon from a distance of 60 years. In 1963 she’s a shy newlywed whose aim in life is simply to be a ‘helpmeet’ for her husband, a Catholic naval intelligence officer.

But her life is transformed when she’s swept up by whirlwind WASP do-gooder Charlene — someone who’d nowadays be called a ‘white saviour’, as the older, wiser Tricia observes. It is Charlene who is there by her bedside when she suffers a miscarriage while her tipsy husband is off socialising.

Tricia’s account is addressed to Charlene’s now-grown daughter, whose own, tangential story is embedded three-quarters of the way through, and in truth feels extraneous. It’s Tricia’s teasing at questions of altruism and self-interest, love and the things that make we forked animals human that ensure this absorbing, beautifully written novel stands out.

SUDDENLY

by Isabelle Autissier

(Pushkin Press £9.99, 224 pp)

Autissier is best known as a competitive sailor, but she’s also published several novels in her native France, though this pacy tale is the first to be translated. No surprise that it begins at sea, where inexperienced, thrill-seeking 30-somethings Louise and Ludovic are navigating the Atlantic.

But an ill-advised pit-stop on a desolate island turns into a nightmarish fight for survival when the couple’s boat sinks. There follow various survivalist adventures, all set against a stunning, cinematic backdrop.

But the edges are knocked off the couple’s hubris — and belief in their love — as starvation reduces them to eyeing up the island’s rats.

Smug, superficial millennial Ludovic is ill-starred from the start, but the novel’s second half follows Louise’s post-ordeal life at the centre of a media storm. A late grab for wider relevance is clumsy, but on the whole the compact arc to redemption makes this a satisfying yarn.

Source: Read Full Article