The Best Fiction I Read in 2021 (Part Two)
Here is the second part of my favourite fiction I read in 2021. Even though I read many advanced reader copies for books coming out in 2022, I haven’t included these in my favourites - I’ll save them for next year!
Here Is The Beehive – Sarah Crossan
Without question, one of the best books I’ve ever read. A novel in verse, a small but mighty book about a woman’s extra-marital affair with a married man who suddenly dies. It’s a novel about all the ugliest parts of love – of pain and longing and jealousy and the gut-punch of desire. It’s a novel I want to read again and again.
The Magnificent Sons – Justin Myers
I’ve long been a fan of Justin Myers and his witty tweets and blogs, so it’s a joy that he’s now writing novels too. The Magnificent Sons, his second novel, is more of a coming-of-self novel than a traditional coming of age story. It’s the story of two brothers, one younger and out and proud, the other older, uncertain and exploring his own sexuality. Myers’ dialogue is full of humour, as you’d expect, but it’s the empathetic characterisation which is a real strong point. The characters don’t always do likeable or the right things, but you always feel for them. It’s long overdue to have a bisexual male protagonist at the centre of a novel like this and the conflict between the two brothers and their sexualities, openness and sense of self really felt authentic and fresh.
This Fragile Earth – Susannah Wise
Full disclosure, Susannah is a good friend of mine, but I was captivated by her writing before I even knew her well. This is a novel I had to put down at one point because the dread was building every time I turned the page, and yet I couldn’t stop reading. This is a brilliant and compulsive near-future read where a mother and son flee London as technology, water and electricity shuts down. Tension simmers throughout with world building so authentic you feel like you’re living Signy’s nightmare. Beautiful writing that transports you into this terrifying dystopia.
True Crime Story – Joseph Knox
If I had to pick only one book for my best book of the year then it would probably be True Crime Story by Joseph Knox. It’s hard to put into words just how much I loved this novel. I listened to it on audiobook which was an incredible experience – a full cast, almost like a podcast documentary. At times I was convinced what I was reading was fact, not fiction, especially because Knox becomes a character in the book himself, alongside notes and amendments supposedly from the publisher. All this creates an amazing experience of a novel. Constructed with interviews from friends and family of the missing Zoe Nolan – a student who went missing in Manchester – you’re never quite sure who to believe. Clever, twisty and so much fun.
This was a beautiful love story about Nick and Anna (the latter who commits to a religious life Nick cannot), full of pining and longing and forbidden feelings – aka the best kind of love story. We follow a back and forth timeline that also sheds light on Nick’s family, including the tragic loss of his mother and brother, skilfully building a complete picture of his flawed characters. I was bereft when it was over.
Novels that open up your understanding about the world, while simultaneously being a brilliant story in their own right, are the best kind and that’s why The Service is one of my favourite novels of the year. It follows three women, all connected to sex work in some way – Lori, a sex worker bringing up her daughter and haunted by memories of her ex; Freya, a middle-class student who becomes an escort; and Paula, a “liberal” journalist. All three women are messy and empathetic but this is a novel full of emotional truth that helped educate me about the industry, as well as being a really engaging story.
Unsettled Ground – Claire Fuller
Women’s Prize Shortlisted Unsettled Ground is a deeply moving story about rural poverty and two adult siblings trying to cope in the wake of their mother’s death. They flounder, reluctant for any outside involvement or help, but soon discover their mother was desperately in debt and due to be evicted. You turn every page hoping for a better life for these two, even when the tragedies seem unsurmountable. It’s a very challenging read knowing this is reality for many, but thankfully Claire Fuller’s work has an undercurrent of hope which kept me glued.
The Paper Palace – Miranda Cowley Heller
A stunning debut I’ve been urging everyone to read! The Paper Palace begins with a woman named Elle reflecting on the night before - a dinner with her husband and friend in their holiday cabin by a lake - where after years of longing and agony, she finally has sex with lifelong friend and love of her life, Jonas. We follow the next 24 hours while revisiting pivotal moments of Elle's life, how she came to meet Jonas, her husband Peter and the horrific events which lead to her deciding to choose a life with Peter instead of Jonas. The story and characterisation are vivid and exceptionally written. Heady, absorbing, utterly immersive.
Starve Acre – Andrew Michael Hurley
I’ve really grown to love horror, and particularly folk horror this year, and Starve Acre was on every horror list telling me to read it. And I’m so glad I did. I loved this book. A fantastically creepy novel that touches on grief, folklore and where the rural environment is so atmospheric. As Richard and Juliette deal in their own way with their young son's death, Juliette is drawn into a strange group who seem to communicate with the dead, Richard experiences something otherworldly when he goes digging in the field opposite their house and it becomes clear something wasn't quite right with their son. Superb.
Mrs Caliban was a novel I’d heard about a while ago when I was researching my own, but it wasn’t until its beautiful Faber reissue this year that it returned to my radar. Then, when my favourite books podcast What Page Are You On? made an episode dedicated to this and Bear by Marian Engel, it pushed me to pick it up. This is a short novel or novella, that does so much in a brief space. Mrs Caliban is about a lonely American house wife whose life is turned upside down by the arrival of a frogman, a creature who has escaped from a local scientific institute after killing two scientists. Dorothy embarks on an affair with Larry the frogman and her inattentive husband barely notices, but she's plagued with constant worry about his discovery. It was weird, charmingly funny and actually really moving.
Other favourites: The Appeal by Janie Hallet; Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed; Dead Relatives by Lucie McKnight Hardy; The Answer to Everything by Luke Kennard; Assembly by Natasha Brown; Home Stretch by Graham Norton; Consent by Annabel Lyon; People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd; The Harpy by Megan Hunter; Severance Ling Ma