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Books

August 2022

Author Mohsin Hamid. Photo by Leonardo Cendamo/Getty Author Mohsin Hamid. Photo by Leonardo Cendamo/Getty Gallery

Mohsin Hamid on how his post-9/11 life inspired The Last White Man and what makes Irish writing different

‘One morning Anders, a white man, woke up to find he had turned a deep and undeniable brown.” So begins Mohsin Hamid’s fifth and latest novel, The Last White Man. The slim volume imagines a world in which white people lose their whiteness. Anders is the first to undergo this transformation, followed by his girlfriend, Oona, and her racist mother, until only his dying father, who lends the novel its title, remains.

Honest and raw: Seán Hewitt does not spare himself from criticism. Photo by Stuart Simpson Honest and raw: Seán Hewitt does not spare himself from criticism. Photo by Stuart Simpson Gallery

All Down Darkness Wide by Seán Hewitt: Freed from the closet to a prison made from love

Seán Hewitt’s All Down Darkness Wide is a memoir that has been universally adored by critics and comes with endorsements from luminaries such as Sarah Perry and Colm Tóibín. His debut poetry collection, Tongues of Fire, was awarded the Laurel Prize and shortlisted for a number of other awards. He has quickly become a presence in the literary scene on both sides of the Irish Sea. His latest work has already cemented that presence into something more solid, more foundational. As the roots of his talent spread from poetry to include prose and are, as we speak, travelling across the Atlantic, we are witnessing the emergence of a major talent.

Diligent research: The most vibrant descriptions are reserved for the 17th-century chapters of Jess Kidd’s book. Photo by Roberto Ricciuti/Getty Diligent research: The most vibrant descriptions are reserved for the 17th-century chapters of Jess Kidd’s book. Photo by Roberto Ricciuti/Getty Gallery

The Night Ship by Jess Kidd: A voyage of the damned and the scars left behind

In 1629, a merchant ship filled with coins and luxuries bound for the Dutch East Indies was wrecked off the western coast of Australia. Some 200 people made it to dry land, but a worse fate than death on the high seas awaited many of the passengers as mutiny took hold and a massacre of innocents followed by a round of executions. The story of the Batavia has everything a fiction writer could hope to mine and pillage: ambition, greed, social intrigue and great peril undertaken by seafarers.

Andrea Mara, author of Hide and Seek. Photo by Meabh Fitzpatrick Andrea Mara, author of Hide and Seek. Photo by Meabh Fitzpatrick

You Must Read This: Andrea Mara on Big Magic, a book that will pull you out of a creative slump

I’ve been reading fiction since I was a child, from the Noddy books on through the Famous Five, Flowers in the Attic, Judy Blume, Stephen King, then on to Jeffery Deaver, Ruth Rendell, Minette Walters and Kate Atkinson. I had a strong Dick Francis phase in the middle and a serious Catherine Cookson obsession too. Crime, historical, romance, comedy, YA — any genre was good. But they were all works of fiction. To me, fiction has always been entertainment and, somehow, non-fiction always felt like homework.

Different outlooks: Jack and Bobby Charlton in 1965. Photo by Norman Quicke va Getty Different outlooks: Jack and Bobby Charlton in 1965. Photo by Norman Quicke va Getty Gallery

Premium

Two Brothers by Jonathan Wilson: Bobby and Jack Charlton as football’s past and future

Is there anything new and compelling left to say about the Charlton brothers? Separately and together, their stories have been told often, sometimes brilliantly. Precursors to this double biography include the first example of the genre, Norman Harris’s The Charlton Brothers (1971); Leo McKinstry’s Jack and Bobby: A Story of Brothers in Conflict (2002), Declan Lynch’s Days of Heaven: Italia ‘90 and the Charlton Years; and Gabriel Clarke’s documentary Finding Jack Charlton, made when Jack was stricken with dementia.

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