Must-reads that you mightn't have heard of

At the Festival of Writing a couple of weeks ago we all got goodie bags of books, most of which I hadn't heard of before. Three of them turned out to be real finds and I want to review these in this post. All of them are as different from one another as can be but they are all worth seeking out.

Once, two islands, is by the South African author, Dawn Garisch. It is set on two fictious islands in the south Atlantic that are closely based on the Tristan da Cunha group. Garish confesses that she never visited Tristan but the idea of an island far into the Atlantic with no air access inspired the story. Ergo Island is the one of the pair where the main characters live; the other, Impossible Island (reminiscent of Inaccessible Island in the Tristan group), is uninhabited at the outset. Doctor Orion Prosper comes to the island on marriage. His wife dies in childbirth and, when the baby, Gulai, won't stop crying her aunt goes against the doctor's wishes and takes her to the island's female witch doctor. As the story develops, Gulai's passage from girlhood into womanhood, while she struggles witht the guilt over her mother's death, is contrasted with a background of deep-seated animosities among the islanders - in particular, her own father's bitterness and his intense hatred of the witch doctor. The style could be described as magic realism and gives the reader that feeling of heightened perception that one associates with the best novels in that genre. Of course, it turns out that there is a sinister truth behind the island's animosities and the story comes to a violent but ultimately hopeful end.

Florence and Giles is a superb Gothic tale by John Harding which takes as its departure point the building blocks of Henry James' The Turn of the Screw (Flora and Miles become Florence and Giles; Bly House becomes Blithe House - in upstate New York; and Mrs Groves becomes Mrs Grouse). However, fans of James' story (and I am one) needn't be put off - nor should those who haven't read it. Florence, who narrates the story, has taught herself to read against the wishes of her guardian uncle and her language is a quaint confusion of verbs with nouns that I loved (the library where she learned to read was a "dustery of disregard"; she "Rapunzelled" herself in the turret and she talks about a "twiddlery of thumbs"). She is fiercely protective of her brother and she fears that the witch-like second governess has plans to kidnap him ("I would wasp her picnic" is how she describes her intent to thwart these plans). When she looks in any mirror in the house she - but only she - can seee the governess looking back, watching her, and it is clear that the woman knows things about Florence, such as her use of the library - that she could not otherwise know. The novel works up to a climax that is just as shocking - and even more ruthless - that that of Henry James' masterpiece.

I have waited and you have come is a dystopian debut novel by Martine McDonagh set in post-climate-change England, where the land is flooded and a wet, cold climate persists. I found myself comparing this to Cormac McCarthy's The Road and the latter - much as I like it - suffered by the comparison. I think this is partly because McDonagh doesn't try to offer us even the modicum of consolation at the end that McCarthy does. Her heroine seeks a date with the man who sells her food in the local market but finds instead that she is stalked by a sinister stranger. As she tries to turn the tables on her pursuer, she is forced out of the house where she has lived as a recluse and has to engage with some of the (very strange) local communes. Again, the ending is extremely unsettling. It's a great read and, although it wouldn't be any harm if it were otherwise, don't expect to be preached at about climate change.

All of these books can be bought over the Internet and I recommend them heartily.