Reading woman, 1911. Private Collection. Creator: Corinth, Lovis (1858-1925). (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images via Getty Images)
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“Coming of age is continuous—but some people keep moving, growing, and evolving, while others calcify, freeze, remain static,” says Anna Maria Volkova of the themes explored in her debut novel Games, which is out this month. Games charts the tumultuous relationship of Lili, a 22-year old student and Aleksandr, a 45-year old man who grew up in the Soviet Union–how control, sex, and power define who we are and the relationships we have; it’s a unique coming of age story in that its characters are not adolescents embarking on adulthood but rather adults growing through different seasons of life that are, nonetheless, transformative and often uncomfortable. “In my own experience, the growth in one’s early twenties was a much more significant coming-of-age moment than that bridge between adolescence into early twenties,” she says.
“Alongside Lili, however, is the growth that Aleksandr undergoes—his coming of age that was one of the most core, important aspects of Games. He is forty-five, and yet, he is, of course, still a person in process… They both pull each other open, and up, in terms of growth. His coming of age happens late, and under pressure—and it felt just as interesting, rife, meaningful, and relevant to me as the coming of age that Lili undergoes.”
Coming of age is just one of the often fraught themes centered in this months new fiction; unafraid to stare down life’s complications, our protagonists this month are grieving, they are repenting, they are falling in love and they are learning to live without it. Whether you’re looking to expand your literary palette with some translated fiction, or for a juicy summer beach read, June delivers a selection of books with well balanced style and substance.
‘Games’ By Anna Maria Volkova: The protagonist in Volkava’s debut is a strong-minded woman writing her master’s thesis; when she falls into a turbulent summer romance with a man twice her age she gives way to him, relinquishing control in a dynamic that quickly slips between whirlwind and devastating.
‘Whistler’ By Ann Pachett: In this new novel by the acclaimed author, a woman meets an unlikely figure from her past on an afternoon museum trip with her husband: a former stepfather who was married to her mother only briefly. Despite that, this reunion spurs an understanding of how profound their relationship was–and instructs how they will move forward.
‘Cathedrals’ By Claudia Piñeiro: Three decades after the brutal death of a teenage girl, her father’s devotion produces a result and answers not only about what happened to his daughter but about the dangers of religious zealotry and of the complicit nature of indifference.
The Cloisters, San Lorenzo fuori le mura, 1824. [The Basilica Papale di San Lorenzo fuori le mura (Papal Basilica of Saint Lawrence outside the Walls) is one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome, Italy]. Detail from a larger artwork. Artist CW Eckersberg. (Photo by Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images)
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‘Feast’ By Catherine Kurtz: Born to an Indian spice merchant and an English prostitute, Kurtz’ protagonist flees nineteenth century London for France where she uses her otherworldly sense of taste to become a poison tester for a prominent man. But with suspicion over a poisoning mounting, she knows it’s only a matter of time before accusers set their sights on her.
‘You First’ By Caroline Kepnes: Are monsters made, or are they born? Are monstrous impulses learned, or are they cultivated? Readers of Caroline Kepnes’ Joe Goldberg series might find some of those answers in this prequel which turns back the clock to one of Goldberg’s first and most formative relationships.
‘Retro’ By Jessica M. Goldstein: What’s that saying? Everywhere you go you take yourself? But what if that place was another time period? When our protagonist accepts a job as a Time Travel agent, ushering visitors in and out of different eras, she’s inclined to believe her life is changing for the better. But what happens when even an alternate reality isn’t far enough away?
‘Let’s Not Go Overboard’ By Erica Hendry: Chartering a yacht in Greece seems like the perfect escape from life, work, and grief–especially for a voracious Below Deck watcher, right? That is until a guest goes missing and instead of tapping into Bravo trivia, the trip starts looking a lot more like a procedural about murder on the high seas…
‘Lovers XXX’ By Allie Rowbottom: “Beaches meets Boogie Nights,” hails Juliette Jeffers for Interview of Rowbottom’s latest novel. This unctuous tale of liberation, the performance of sex, and friendship told against the neon facade of 1980’s Los Angeles has just the right amount of grime and the right amount of heart.
‘Close Relationships With Strangers’ By Krista Diamond: A seasoned paparazzi is on the heels of an A-List celebrity as he’s plunged into a sex scandal; as he stalks his prey in pursuit of a career changing paycheck its his own life that stalks him–failed relationships, professional scandal, and dreams deferred.
1st December 1964: Photographers move in for a picture of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, as he goes into hospital to have his tonsils removed. Bottom middle, with grey hair and glasses, is Bob Dean of Associated Press, bottom right is Frank Hudson of the Daily Mail, top middle is Sid Biddell and top right is Harry Sheldrake of Barretts. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)
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‘Summer Of The Serpent’ By Cecilia Eudave: What does mythology tell us about who we are? What about our fears? The voices of children, adults, and ghosts intertwine to tell stories of violence, horror, memory, and family.
‘It’s All River’ By Carla Madeira: Hailed as a “A feverish, obsessive, filthy book—and a terribly fun one,” this novel, translated from Portuguese follows Lucy, daringly lurid and desired, and her feverish lust for a married man, perhaps the only man who doesn’t want her. As her obsession with his desire grows, what results is a fraught and high octane examination of sex, desire, and violence.
‘Nymph’ By Sofia Montrone: A tender coming of age, this debut follows a young girl who spends her summer’s working at an Italian agriturismo, the tragedy that upends her childhood, and the scars that linger as she grows up, imprinting on her first love with an American woman years later.
‘My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein’ by Deborah Levy: In Levy’s signature, quietly introspective storytelling, her newest novel asks the big questions: “How do we put ourselves together? What do we lose to become modern? What do we find beyond the limits of language?” As our narrator sets out to write an essay about Gertrude Stein she explores these questions, and more, along the way.
‘The Children’ By Melissa Albert: Growing up, the children of a legendary author lived in squalor in the shadow of their mother’s success before tragedy struck and they lost it all; now as an adult, her daughter must come to terms with the legacy that’s defined her life, her brother’s scandal laden reputation, and what really happened when they were young.
‘Good Company’ By Kate Christensen: Set entirely over the course of a weekend, this novel follows a young woman who returns to her alma mater to attend a book festival; enraptured by a charming fellow memoirist she’s forced to reckon with her romantic and sexual demons whose voices are woven throughout this searing exploration of gender and sex.
‘Someone Else’s Husband’ By Kimberly McCreight: Gretchen Falk is married to Richard Falk and she desperately wants him to forego his hiking trip to Mount Kilimanjaro; Frankie Callahan is about to celebrate her upcoming exhibition at a New York gallery on that very hike. Just weeks after the hike, Richard is charged with Frankie’s murder–and only Gretchen can unravel what brought them here.
A herd of impala (Aepyceros melampus) graze by a dead tree below the snow covered peak of Mount Kilimanjaro, Kenya, East Africa, mid 20th Century. The volcanic mountain itself is in Tanzania. (Photo by Frederic Lewis/Getty Images)
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‘Hunger & Thirst’ By Claire Fuller: Equal parts coming of age and gothic haunted house story, this novel charts the friendship between two young women who meet at a halfway house; thirty six years later, their past is dredged up and with it, confronting truths about the monsters that still haunt them.
‘Sublimation’ By Isabel J. Kim: This speculative novel explores immigration and identity in a world where, when you immigrant a version of you is always left behind; when one woman’s doppelgänger threatens her new life, she’s forced to confront how much she’ll sacrifice to save herself.
‘Based On A True Story’ By Sarah Vaughan: When a legendary children’s author summons her friends and family to her cliffside manor for a 70th birthday party, the last thing she expects is for a secret from her past to threaten everything she’s worked for–and for a body to turn up.
