Tiger
Polly Clark
Riverrun, £14.99, pp432
Frieda, a primatologist, has suffered a violent attack. When she loses her academic research position, she takes a job in a zoo, recently home to a Siberian tiger. Thousands of miles away, deep in the Siberian forest, a conservationist, Tomas, is charged with capturing footage of a tigress and her cubs. Meanwhile, a young woman, Edit, endeavours to reconcile local folklore and her own cultural history with an internal quest for freedom. Clark’s second novel is lyrical and richly imagined, immersing the reader in the Siberian wilderness. Tackling themes of grief, motherhood and empowerment, it questions the price we pay for freedom and for love.
Critical: Science and Stories from the Brink of Human Life
Dr Matt Morgan
Simon & Schuster, £16.99, pp288
Matt Morgan’s compassionate and moving collection of case studies from the world of intensive care. From a 17-year-old boy who develops sepsis after swimming in a hotel pool in Africa to a judge suffering from cardiac arrest; from a man with fluid on the brain to a five-year-old girl with suspected pneumonia, Morgan provides a rich array of stories and characters. Alongside the case studies, he details the development of the medical practices and technology – from the iron lung to ultrasound – that have helped make such life-saving procedures possible.
There There
Tommy Orange
Random House, £8.99, pp304 (paperback)
Orange’s polyphonic, multigenerational debut novel depicts the Native American experience in contemporary life. Through the voices of his 12 working-class protagonists, he explores the tension between cultural specificity and assimilation. These are characters on the periphery – from the cultural mainstream and from economic power – and a stream of rage, violence and despair runs through the novel. While it can sometimes be a challenge to keep track of Orange’s many characters, the novel is a powerful and visceral story about marginalisation and the fracturing of a community.
• To order Tiger, Critical: Science and Stories from the Brink of Human Life or There There, go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £15, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99
