5 new books to read this week

Fiction

Welcome to the Neighbourhood by Jane Fallon

Welcome to the Neighbourhood captures the envy and intrigue that simmers amongst a group of friends and neighbours. Kitty finds herself living in the most boring part of London – not central enough to be exciting, but not far enough out to feel rural or quaint. Life is lonely and uneventful until new neighbours Sian and Rich arrive, and Kitty is swept up in the allure of their dynamic lifestyle. But when Kitty begins to suspect Rich isn’t being faithful, she and her best friend Grace set out to uncover the truth – or what they believe it to be. Amusing and well-rounded, this is chick lit done right. The characters keep you guessing throughout, while the story remains engaging and relatively comforting overall.

Half His Age by Jennette McCurdy

This may be former child actress Jennette McCurdy’s second book (her memoir, I’m Glad My Mum Died, was published in 2022), but it is her first novel. How much of the dark, sad, but funny Half His Age is based on her lived experience, we don’t know, but it felt truly visceral at times. Waldo is a 17-year-old high school student. She’s had to grow up far too quickly and finds her thrills by online shopping late at night. She has just broken up with her boyfriend, not that she is particularly bothered by that, and decides her writing teacher is the one for her. She must have him, all of him. McCurdy keeps the prose direct, with short sentences and brief chapters, and the pace is extraordinary, like reading TikTok. Waldo is complex and while she pursues Mr Korgy, she’s also a victim of abuse; a child in an adult’s body with no support system.

May We Feed The King by Rebecca Perry is published in hardback by Granta Books

A curator invited to dress the rooms of a stately home for an exhibition chooses the reign of an almost-forgotten king. As she gathers props for her task, her grief on a recent loss leads her to reflect on the life she’s recreating. Her imaginings slip the reader into the past, where we meet the king. A third son, he was never meant to rule, and he struggles with the power suddenly thrust upon him. When his advisers plot to oust him, the king, his queen, and their respective lovers plan a final audacious act. At its heart, May We Feed The King is an extended fable musing on both the transience of things society deems important and the power of choice. Rebecca Perry employs stylistic decisions to force a distance between the narrative and the reader, and although there’s beauty and skill in the descriptions, there’s no substance to anchor it. You’ll find a novel that’s unusual, literary and ornamental.

Non-fiction

Start Where You Are: The Beginner’s 5k Running Guide for Women by Sabrina Pace-Humphreys

In 2009, struggling with post-natal depression, Sabrina Pace-Humphreys was not a runner, and now she’s written a whole book about the joys, challenges and myriad life benefits pulling on a pair of trainers can offer. The premise of Start Where You Are is, if she can do it, what’s stopping you? Aimed at women, she’s all about the ‘running sisterhood’, finding a running community, and feeling safe and empowered to try jogging and smash a 5k. The book is packed with practical advice, from when you actually need to buy a new pair of trainers to what’s happening to your boobs while you run. There’s diagrams of warm-up exercises and also a real understanding of how perimenopause and menopause can affect running, and the confidence needed sometimes to get out there to go on one. While some of the advice is a little obvious, and the suggestion you read the whole thing before even trying running is a bit daunting, this is a very thorough beginner’s guide that more experienced runners could dip in and out of too.

Children’s book of the week

New You For Ever by Steve Cole, illustrated by Chris King

Fans of dystopian thrillers will enjoy this new short novel from Steve Cole, which is also beautifully illustrated. Set in 2070, the New You Foundation reckons it has found an answer to climate change, or so it says, anyway: human beings can transform themselves into Pleekas. These are artificial replicas that do not use up the world’s resources and seem like the ideal solution. But what are Pleekas really? And are they really offering salvation? It takes young journalist Anders to find out the truth as he undertakes a thrilling journey of discovery, aided by a few close confidants. This book is dyslexia friendly and perfectly pitched at readers aged 11+.