The World I Fell Out Of
Melanie Reid
4th Estate, £16.99, pp400
In 2010, aged 52, journalist Melanie Reid fell off her horse, breaking her neck and fracturing her lower back. The World I Fell Out Of recounts her recovery, from the first, disorienting year spent in hospital, through a stoical determination to regain as much mobility as possible, to writing her award-winning column about living with disability. Reid reveals with insight, candour and courage what it’s like to find yourself suddenly inhabiting a world that was previously unknown to you. The result is a powerful, life-affirming memoir.
Last Ones Left Alive
Sarah Davis-Goff
Tinder Press, £12.99, pp288
In a dystopian future, teenager Orpen has been living happily with her mother and a woman called Maeve on a remote island off the west coast of Ireland. They are entirely self-sufficient and cut off from the rest of the world. But on the mainland, men have committed terrible atrocities and zombies, known as skrakes, threaten civilisation. In an attempt to save herself, Orpen travels to Ireland with an infected Maeve and a stray dog, not understanding the threat she faces. Written in sparse, affecting prose, and reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, this is a fiercely feminist, highly imaginative novel.
Feel Free
Zadie Smith
Penguin, £9.99, pp464
In a wide-ranging collection of essays, written between 2010 and 2017, Zadie Smith tackles subjects from JG Ballard to Justin Bieber. Covering politics, philosophy, art and culture, most have been published before but reading them together is nonetheless a richly rewarding. Smith discusses the process and anxieties of writing and conveys her enjoyment of culture alongside razor-sharp analysis. It’s a dazzlingly intelligent collection, but far from intellectually alienating: Smith weaves her ideas around personal memories and pop culture references, creating intimacy between herself and the reader.
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