Five novels to put a spring in your step

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward is described by the publishers as a reimagining of American slavery, blending magical realism, historical narrative, and influences from Dante’s Inferno. The novel takes its title from Canto IV: “‘Let us descend,’ the poet now began, ‘and enter this blind world.’” 

This is Ward’s first novel since her 2017 National Book Award-winning work, Sing, Unburied, Sing. Let Us Descend starts in the American Civil War in North Carolina and tells the story of Annis, an enslaved teenage girl forcibly sent south by her white enslaver, who is also her father.

On this hard journey, Annis draws strength from memories of her mother and stories of her African warrior grandmother. She connects with spirits natural, historical and mythological, some of whom are helpful and some malicious. At its heart, Let Us Descend is about overcoming and reclaiming identity.

According to Kirkus Reviews, “Every time you think this novel is taking you places you’ve been before, Ward startles you with an image, a metaphor, a rhetorical surge that makes both Annis and her travails worth your attention. And admiration. Ward may not tell you anything new about slavery, but her language is saturated with terror and enchantment.”

• Best-selling author of The Nix (2016), praised for its richly layered narrative, sharp wit, and keen observations on American culture and politics, Nathan Hill’s Wellness is described by the publishers as “a poignant and witty novel about marriage, the often-baffling pursuit of health and happiness, and the stories that bind us together”.

Jack and Elizabeth meet in college in the 1990s and quickly bond over their shared interests in Chicago’s underground art world. Twenty years later, as a married couple, they navigate parenting and face unusual challenges such as misleading mindfulness groups, people wanting open relationships, Facebook arguments and a mysterious “Love Potion Number Nine”.

For the first time, they find it hard to understand each other. They confront their past disappointments, including unresolved issues from their own troubled families, which they have to address individually to save their relationship.

Booklist describes it as “astutely observed, hilariously satirical ... Hill’s prose is radiant and ravishing throughout this saturated, intricately honeycombed novel of delving cogitation as he evokes the wonders of the prairie and the city, and the ever-perplexing folly, anguish, and beauty of the human condition”. 

• Mona Awad (13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, 2016; and Bunny, 2019) is known for her unique blend of dark humour, biting societal commentary and profound insights into the human psyche. Her writing delves into body image, societal expectations, the intricacies of female friendships and the psychological landscapes of her characters.

Rouge is the story of Belle, a young woman obsessed with skincare. After her estranged mother, Noelle, dies under mysterious circumstances, Belle returns to southern California where she has to deal with her mother’s debt and questions about her death.

At the funeral, a mysterious woman hints at the reason for Noelle’s death, and Belle receives a video about a luxurious spa, the creepy La Maison de Méduse, where her mother was a regular. At the spa, she learns the scary secret behind her and her mother’s obsession with their own reflections in the mirror.

Billed as Snow White meets Eyes Wide Shut, the novel is described as “a surreal descent into the dark side of beauty, envy, grief, and the complicated love between mothers and daughters ... Rouge explores the cult-like nature of the beauty industry — as well as the danger of internalising its pitiless gaze.”

• The opening novella of JM Coetzee’s The Pole and Other Stories features a 70-year-old Polish pianist, Witold, and his infatuation with Beatriz, a wealthy, married arts patron, whom he meets during a trip to Barcelona. The story delves into the fear of sexual nonentity and the significance of physical attributes such as hand size.

The collection includes stories written over 18 years, originally written in English by Coetzee but first published in Italian or Spanish. Elizabeth Costello, a recurring character in Coetzee’s fiction, makes a reappearance in several stories, discussing topics such as old age and euthanasia.

The Guardian, describes it as “a collection of stories concerned with death, desire and old age, glinting with flashes of humour and grand, existential strangeness ... a sense of how the past occupies us until, one day, we come to occupy it”.

• Yiyun Li’s latest novel The Book of Goose explores the story of two 13-year-old girls, Agnès and Fabienne, who become friends in the impoverished French village of Saint Rémy in the 1950s. The girls engage in elaborate games of make-believe, and Fabienne suggests they write a book together. With the help of the local postmaster, they attract the attention of a Paris publisher.

Agnès is credited as the author “Les Enfants Heureux”, and is hailed as a peasant prodigy. She is sent to a finishing school in England, but this newfound fame comes at a cost.

The novel delves into philosophical questions of reality, memory, and fiction, as well as the passion of childhood friendships. It reflects on the complex, demanding relationship between authors and the literary world.

It is billed as “a magnificent, beguiling tale winding from the postwar rural provinces to Paris, from an English boarding school to the quiet Pennsylvania home where a woman can live without her past ... a story of disturbing intimacy and obsession, of exploitation and strength of will”.