It’s been a long, cold winter, but spring is finally on the way, and bringing new books with it. These particular titles are masterclasses in world building. They’ll transport you through time and place, from a Turkish prison cell situated in a bathroom, to 2000s Dublin, to 17th century Scotland. Many of them follow characters at formative ages, or stages of life, which feels more relevant than ever with a season of change and rebirth right around the corner. And more than anything, they’re novels rooted in desire, whether that be for creative successes, the realisation of fantasies, or for love itself.
Minbak by Ela Lee
In 1985, South Korea, a baby is born in a minbak (a traditional Korean guesthouse) and vanishes days later. Twenty years on, Hana faces ruin after the death of her husband. She is forced to move her teenage daughter and mother into one room with her, transforming the rest of the house into a minbak. As the three women adapt to their new lives, with nowhere to hide, secrets begin to break the surface, and before long, the past is catching up to them. Heartbreaking and lyrical, this is a sweeping tale of displacement and survival set over three generations of women.
Minbak publishes on 3 March
Pixie by Jill Dawson
Many people know the original iconic Rider Waite tarot deck, but in Jill Dawson’s newest offering, Pixie, she brings to life Pamela Colman-Smith, illustrator of the pack. Set at the turn of the 20th century, Dawson’s writing explores the rise of the esoteric, and one woman’s fight to forge a path for herself and her art, against all odds. Vivid and beguiling, it’s the perfect book for anyone with an interest in the occult.
Pixie publishes on 12 March
Strange Girls by Sarvat Hasin
Ava and Aliya meet on the historic campus of their university, infused with dreams – of romance, of success, of each other. Their spark is instant, and soon they’ve become one, creating their own world through the stories they write, with and for each other. Yet when Hasin’s novel opens, a decade has passed since the two have seen each other. Ava is floundering, whilst Aliya has everything that Ava has ever wanted: a book deal, her own house – and something that Ava didn’t want either of them to have, a husband. Winding and desirous, Harvat’s writing is compelling and introspective, turning the human mythological and calling to anybody who’s had an intoxicating, all-consuming friendship.
Strange Girls publishes on 12 March
The Last Witch on the Knock by Aimée MacDonald
Set in the Scottish highlands, The Last Witch on the Knock is split between two women and times. In the present day, Thomasin arrives in the highlands for the summer, escaping her toxic relationship to spend the summer with her aunt and niece. 300 years earlier, Kate is working at the Big House, wishing for another life, far away from the lecherous master of the household. When she’s accused of witchcraft after rejecting his advances, she must find a way to escape, and in an area where the boundaries between times is wearing thin, she finds an unwilling host in Thomasin. Eerie and visceral, this is a mesmerising new foray into folk horror.
The Last Witch on the Knock publishes on 12 March
The Renovation by Kenan Orhan
Dilara lives with her husband and father, the latter of whom is suffering from dementia. Exiled from Turkey, they’ve begun to build a new life in Italy – which is why it’s such a surprise when, having had their bathroom renovated, Dilara opens the door after the builders have left to find a Turkish prison cell. At first, she’s horrified, desperate to get her bathroom back as soon as possible, but as time passes, her feelings give way to something else, and she begins to find herself unable to stay away from this window into her motherland. Startlingly original, Orhan’s novel is an interrogation into politics, family, and how far we can truly stray from home before it calls us back.
The Renovation publishes on 26 March
What Am I, A Deer? by Polly Barton
Barton, a translator of Japanese to English, has many counting down the days until the release of her debut novel, What Am I, A Deer? Here, an unnamed woman with little interest in gaming takes on a role at a gaming company in Frankfurt. Her days pass without meaning, until one day, she meets eyes with a handsome stranger during her morning commute, who she soon discovers shares her workplace. What follows is a year of obsession, imagining the relationship that the two could have. Witty and exhilarating, this is a tale of identity and authenticity.
What Am I, A Deer? publishes on 26 March
Permanence by Sophie Mackintosh
Mackintosh’s newest, the lushly written Permanence, is a sensual yet devastating exploration into adultery, and what love really is. The concept itself is Black Mirror-esque; we follow Clara and Francis, who for months have been having an illicit affair, stealing hours whenever they can. That is, until one morning when they wake up, side by side in an alternate reality in which, surrounded by other adulterous couples, they can spend all the time that they want together. But how long can paradise truly last, and what happens when fantasy begins to become a reality?
Permanence publishes on 2 April
Frida Slattery As Herself by Ana Kinsella
When Frida Slattery and John Reddan meet in a Dublin pub in 2006, neither can imagine how they’ll define each other’s lives.​ Frida is struggling to become an actress, while John is beginning to make a name for himself as a director. From the moment they set eyes on each other, they know there’s potential. Potential to work together, potential to know each other, all with dangerously slippery boundaries. As the book goes on, we’re taken through 15 years with them, from Dublin to London, New York, and LA, sometimes speaking, sometimes not – but always reflected in the others’ art. This sparkling debut is a complex story of love and art that you won’t want to put down.
Frida Slattery As Herself publishes on 7 May
Give Me Everything You’ve Got by Imogen Crimp
Crimp’s sophomore title, Give Me Everything You’ve Got, follows newly successful film director Ruby, invited to the house of her professional idol – and her elusive daughter – one hot summer. The result is a total fever dream. Crimp does very well at breaking down barriers between reality and fantasy, and sexuality and power, in a way that ensures the reading experience becomes completely dizzying. Tinged with a sense of creeping claustrophobia throughout, it’s hard to ignore the descent into madness that inches its way into the book.
Give Me Everything You’ve Got publishes on 7 May
Said the Dead by Doireann Ni Ghriofa
In the city of Cork, a derelict Victorian mental hospital is being converted into modern apartments. One passerby, a woman, is taken by the thought that in a different time, she too might have been entrapped there, and soon finds herself consumed by all those who lived within those walls. A breathtaking piece of writing, Said the Dead blurs lines and boundaries between reality and fantasy, hauntings and happenings, and truth and lies, questioning how much history and the present cling onto each other.
Said the Dead publishes on 21 May.