The Bookcase

Mischievous, malevolent jinn (genies) interfere with the human world in Salman Rushdie's latest novel, which combines a recognisable near-future with the magical world of Arabian mythology.

The plot follows this 'war between worlds', fuelled by a fictional, centuries-long disagreement between genuine historical Muslim philosophers Ghazali and Ibn Rushd, the latter of whom purportedly sired a small army of half-human children with the disguised, benevolent and extremely fertile jinnia Dunia.

Descendants of these offspring, who include a frustrated comic book artist and a Manhattan gardener, must come together in a battle between followers of God and reason, which is played out over two years, eight months and 28 (or 1,001) nights.

Hieronymous 'Mr Geronimo' Menezes, the aforementioned gardener, is the closest thing the novel has to a human protagonist: an ageing, salt-of-the-earth Indian man, who battles violent climate change and is unwillingly drawn into the conflict with magical beings he doesn't believe in.

Rushdie channels the story of Scheherazade for this confusing, twisting novel, which nevertheless weaves readers into its tapestry of sex, death, ideas, arguments and human peccadillos.

He mimics the guise of an oral storyteller, with frequent digressions and explanations, and drops in the occasional muse on concepts that initially seem inconsequential, only to be picked up later in the narrative.

His characters tell each other stories all the time, so their tales go back and forth throughout the book universe's timeline and layer over each other into a dense compost that turns into the overall plot.

It sounds like a mess, but in fact works tremendously well, with Rushdie managing to be funny and inventive.

Fans should be satisfied and newcomers bemused, then enchanted, by the wordsmithery on show - before running to Google to research all the elements of Eastern history.

9/10

(Review by Natalie Bowen)

FICTION

A Slanting Of The Sun by Donal Ryan is published in hardback by Doubleday Ireland, priced £12.99 (ebook £6.02). Available now

In 2013, Donal Ryan won the Guardian first book award for his portrayal of post-crash small town Ireland, The Spinning Heart. This was followed up by the heart-breaking The Thing About December (and yes, this is a phrase used all too often, but here it is entirely accurate). He returns now with a collection of short stories cut from the same cloth as his previous work - snapshots from lives, each thematically similar yet tightly contained in worlds of their own. In the opening story, we meet a man just out of jail who forms a bond with the mother of the girl he ran over; there's the tale of a dedicated mother and wife (even here, Ryan makes the banal beautifully readable) with a shocking twist; an old man recalls a revenge killing's effect on his life. Love (needing it and giving it), loneliness and displacement all find a home in these stunning pages.

8/10

(Review by Emma Herdman)

Where My Heart Used To Beat by Sebastian Faulks is published in hardback by Hutchinson, priced £20 (ebook £8.03). Available now

Sebastian Faulks plunges back into his favourite eddies in Where My Heart Used To Beat. Less cinematic than his biggest hitters to date, Birdsong and Charlotte Grey, he nicks away not-so quietly at his pet topics: memory, war, identity, psychology - and continues on what seems to be a personal quest to write down every facet of trench life, lost love, broken remembrances and a century smeared in mud and blood. Of course, at this he is a master (he's had a lot of practise), so the life of Robert Hendricks, a doctor and World War II veteran searching for meaning since his father's death, materialises almost effortlessly. From the sloshing trenches of Italy to the arms of a nurse, Luisa, and a remote island off the South of France where Hendricks' life story unspools thanks to the prodding of a dying physician, the book spans decades, leaving you quite worn out by the end of it. However vivid the writing, however tangible the protagonist and his failings, the plot meanders at times, losing pace as Faulks gets bogged down in his ideas and psychological musings to a point that's almost indulgent. Committed Faulks fans will no doubt be satisfied though.

7/10

(Review by Ella Walker)

We Never Asked For Wings by Vanessa Diffenbaugh is published in hardback by Mantle, priced £16.99 (ebook £7.47). Available now

The follow-up to Diffenbaugh's bestseller about fostering, The Language Of Flowers, We Never Asked For Wings also takes thorny family issues as its theme. Letty is a young single mum of serious teenager Alex and needy six-year-old Luna. But thanks to her own mother's well-meaning over-involvement with her grandchildren, she's never really been allowed to parent them. The novel centres around what happens when grandma goes back to Mexico and Letty is left to sink or swim in motherhood's decidedly choppy waters. What results is a well-paced, well put-together story with the right proportions of teenage drama, romance and even a touch of politics, in its handling of the US' harsh immigration policies. It's all a little superficial - this is very much an 'issues' book - and the wings motif (Letty's father creates pictures from bird feathers) doesn't really take off. But that doesn't stop it from being an involving read.

7/10

(Review by Jackie Kingsley)

Broken Promise by Linwood Barclay is published in hardback by Orion, priced £18.99 (ebook £9.99). Available now

Fans of Linwood Barclay will recognise David Harwood, the central character in Broken Promise, from Never Look Away. Then, David was working to prove his own innocence. Here, he becomes would-be investigator again, but this time to determine whether his cousin really has murdered a woman and snatched her baby, as the police believe. Marla hasn't got over the death of her own baby about a year ago, yet David can't accept she would be capable of something so horrific. There's plenty going on in this book, with lots of sub-plots that add to the suspense. There is an element of frustration though; taken in isolation, the main storyline is rather predictable, and lacking a twist. It's the sub-plots that you find you can't quite piece together, and the frustration comes from realising that these most intriguing elements of the story won't be resolved - not yet at least. For that, you'll need to wait for the next instalment, due out in March.

7/10

(Review by Steph Williams)

Submission by Michel Houllebecq is published in hardback by William Heinemann, priced £18.99 (ebook £7.29). Available now

Francois is a typically Houellebecqian protagonist: middle-aged, misogynistic, spiritually bereft and disgusted by his parents, and Submission is a typically Houellebecqian novel. It is France, 2022, and the Muslim Brotherhood has just swept to power, riding the people's dissatisfaction with mainstream politics. A professor at the Sorbonne, Francois is well aware that his academic career is in decline, and he takes little interest in his university beyond which student he might sleep with next. The arrival of Islam, with the promise of polygamy and of giving substance to his existence, sets his life on a new course. Houellebecq's target, as usual, is the mindless consumerism and vapid intellectualism of modern France, and whilst the premise of the book is new, the satire feels tired and overworked. It is a work that is certain to provoke, but ultimately it does not have much to say that he has not said, much better, before.

4/10

(Review by Adam Weymouth)

NON-FICTION

The Evolution Of Everything: How Ideas Emerge by Matt Ridley is published in hardback by Fourth Estate, priced £20 (ebook £14.99). Available September 24

Evolution is not just confined to the species; according to Matt Ridley's account, it is happening all around us. Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist, likes turning conventional wisdom on its head and in this book argues that top-down control is never as effective as bottoms up, evolving change. On economic matters, Adam Smith is championed over Marx, population control of China's one child policy passionately dismissed in favour of natural population growth, and many cultural norms including marriage, money, religion and technological innovation are portrayed as being evolutionary practices, not delivered by Great Men or human top-down systems. The politics is libertarian; reading from a UK perspective, positing a private alternative to NHS or voicing climate change scepticism certainly offers an alternative voice to some broad consensus views. Politicians regularly quoted include UKIP MP Douglas Carswell and Republican Senator Rand Paul, so whilst the evolutionary theory is fascinating and ultimately optimistic about the future of the human species, the arguments on society may fail to break through to the mainstream.

7/10

(Review by Will Ennett)

The Pie At Night: In Search Of The North At Play by Stuart Maconie is published in hardback by Ebury Press, priced £16.99 (ebook £8.07). Available now

Following on from his previous jaunt around the north of England, Pies and Prejudice, DJ, music critic and fellow northerner Stuart Maconie returns, this time to examine how the locals like to enjoy themselves. It quickly becomes apparent, however, that they spend their spare time in much the same manner as anybody else, and despite the chapters being divided into relevant themes (sport, culture, food etc.) it's really just an excuse for Maconie to visit more unfairly maligned towns and offer his musings on what he finds there. This is no bad thing, as he makes for a genial travel companion with a great ear for dialogue, capturing snapshots of mysterious conversations in Hull pubs, or friendly encounters with dog-walkers on the West Pennine Moors. Nevertheless, he doesn't spend long enough in any one place to offer much in the way of insight, and his adventures pass by in an amusing, but insubstantial, blur.

6/10

(Review by James Robinson)

CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK

The Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands is published in paperback by Puffin, priced £6.99 (ebook £3.49). Available now

Newcomer Kevin Sands has chosen the rich historical setting of 17th century London for his debut novel The Blackthorn Key. Potions, codes and explosions are nothing new for young apothecary Christopher Rowe. But these are dangerous times in London and after a string of murders, Christopher finds himself on the run from the King's men, with his only allies being his best friend Tom and a bird called Bridget. As he tries to save himself, his only clues are an encoded recipe for his master's most dangerous project and a warning that says: "Tell no one!" Will Christopher be able to crack the code or is this his final stand? This book is cleverly written and has a twist of wit. Though it starts quite like a murder story, it soon becomes more of an adventure story. The characters are very believable and Christopher himself is likeable and makes a great, cheeky hero. There is quite a surprise at the end and that is what you want from a good mystery story. I could not put it down, a real page-turner. So pick up The Blackthorn Key and join Christopher on his deadly adventure!

9/10

(Review by Noah Sanders, aged 10)

BESTSELLERS FOR WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 19

HARDBACKS

1. Make Me by Lee Child

2. Everyday Super Food by Jamie Oliver

3. Secret War: Spies, Codes And Guerrillas 1939-1945 by Sir Max Hastings

4. Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett

5. Username: Evie by Joe Sugg

6. Guinness World Records 2016

7. Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz

8. How To Fight A Dragon's Fury by Cressida Cowell

9. The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz

10. The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins

(Compiled by Waterstones)

PAPERBACKS

1. After The Crash by Michel Bussi

2. Gut: The Inside Story Of Our Body's Most Under-Rated Organ by Giulia Enders

3. A Spool Of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

4. Listen To the Moon by Michael Morpurgo

5. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

6. Revival by Stephen King

7. Gorsky by Vesna Goldsworthy

8. Leaving Berlin by Joseph Kanon

9. All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

10. Heirs To Forgotten Kingdoms by Gerard Russell

(Compiled by Waterstones)

EBOOKS

1. As The Crow Flies by Damien Boyd

2. Make Me by Lee Child

3. My Sister's Secret by Tracy Buchanan

4. Head In The Sand by Damien Boyd

5. The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins

6. The Martian by Andy Weir

7. After Anna by Alex Lake

8. The Black Road by Rachel Abbott

9. A Twist Of Fate by Joanna Rees

10. Kickback by Damien Boyd

(Compiled by amazon.co.uk)