New books to read this week

Fiction

The Expansion Project by Ben Pester is published in hardback by Granta Books

Somewhere in the vast Capmeadow Business Park, Tom Crowley’s daughter, Hen, is lost. He’d brought her here for Bring Your Daughter to Work day, despite the fact no one else seems to have heard of it. Tom is destined to endlessly search for Hen, unable to accept that he is mistaken – that she is, in reality, safe at home. Meanwhile, Capmeadow is growing; buildings, gardens, the ground itself continually in a state of flux. Who knows when the expansion started or where it will end? As Steve from reception says, “I have learnt not to second guess-buildings of this kind”. Hallucinatory and unsettling, The Expansion Project will strike a chord with anyone familiar with the modern workplace and the way it bleeds into all aspects of our lives. Its jargon, rituals, precarity and environmental impact are all here. Not a comfortable read, but an interesting one.

The Phoenix Pencil Company by Allison King is published in hardback by Fourth Estate

It’s difficult to not swing from wildly invested in this curious debut novel, to thinking, ‘What? That doesn’t work’. After computer coder Monica tracks down her grandmother’s long-lost cousin, she pulls on a thread that begins to unravel the secrets of her family’s pencil company – and the fantastical power the women in it possess. Moments between Monica and her grandparents are incredibly tender, riven with heartache and love, as are sections written from her grandmother’s perspective, detailing a suffocating youth in occupied Shanghai and her escape to America. But that precision and depth isn’t applied so well to other core relationships, leaving them thin in comparison. Total immersion in Allison King’s story is also derailed by how the women in Monica’s family access their power, and the fact the social connection platform Monica is working on is too unwieldy to make proper sense of. However, it is a peculiarly affecting novel, and while it has its problems, is still thought-provoking on the strength of women and the dangers of burying the past and writing everything you think and feel on the internet.

Food Person by Adam Roberts is published in hardback by Hutchinson Heinemann

Food blogger Adam Roberts, the writer behind The Amateur Gourmet, has written his first novel, Food Person, and it’s a pretty rollicking read. Isabella Pasternak is a food writer who far exceeds her means, buying only the best produce, whipping it into feasts her wealthy housemate skips for protein shakes, and bakes that her colleagues scoff without knowing her name. Then she gets roped into ghostwriting a cookbook for mercurial actor Molly Babcock who is constantly batting off scandals. Tautly written and punchy, Roberts’ patter is fast-paced to the point of frenetic, and Isabella does make you despair in moments, but overall it’s a delectable tale with a truly excellent book jacket – two breadsticks wearing white patent leather boots. Full of vim and nattiness, Food Person will also make you very hungry.

Non-fiction

The Republic of Parenthood by Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is published in hardback by September Publishing

Writer and author Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett, known for her opinion pieces in The Guardian and her 2018 novel, The Tyranny Of Lost Things, presents a collection of essays from her newspaper column, focused on the journey of motherhood in the modern world. Welcoming her son in 2022, Cosslett turned her attention from articles expounding indie-sleaze and Tory tax cuts to matrescence and maternal guilt. This collection pulls together her favourite pieces, in chronological order, to create a pseudo-support guide, without intending to provide ‘the answer’ at all. Her writing is honest, emotive and as balanced as can be when you consider (and acknowledge as she does), her privileged position. And, while there is no groundbreaking new perspective or heaven-sent solution to be found, Cosslett offers a supportive voice to echo through the often-lonely early days of parenting.

Children’s book of the week

Simon gets Sneezed by Adam Kay, illustrated by Henry Paker, is published in paperback by Puffin

This gross but entertaining, stealthily educational picture book is flooded with puns and silliness, while championing the benefits of snot – or mucus, as our hero Simon’s mum would say. Written by former doctor and This Is Going To Hurt author Adam Kay, Simon Gets Sneezed follows the adventures of a piece of snot, whose sister thinks he’s a waste of space, but who proves his worth inside the nostril of a little girl called Phoebe, by grappling with dangerous foes, including pollen, dust, germs and even a finger (little kids will love this page especially). Henry Paker’s illustrations are particularly witty; spot famous artworks – from Edvard Munch’s The Scream to The Great Wave by Hokusai – reimagined in snot. While the plotting is a little slow at times, the peril feels real and kids will appreciate the yuck-factor, but for grown-ups, it may make your stomach turn slightly.