FROM PARADISE TO PILGRIMS

New year, new reads

It’s time to turn over a new leaf, but there’s no exercise involved. Saskia Hayward at Topping & Co. selects six books that are pertinent to both human and personal priorities, resolutions, looking to the future and acceptance.

To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara

Hanya Yanagihara caused a sensation in 2015 with Booker-shortlisted A Little Life, which remains a bestseller in the bookshop to this day. To Paradise is her much awaited new novel, and is set to be equally seismic. A huge, 700-page book, it spans three centuries and reveals a triptych of interwoven stories, all set against the backdrop of New York City. Opening in an alternate version of 1893, New York is part of the Free States, a separate nation to the rest of America in which gay marriage is legal. The next section takes place in 1993 Manhattan, devastated by the AIDs epidemic; followed by New York in 2093, a city under the thumb of an authoritarian regime. It’s an expansive work, grounded through its focus on the detail and profound humanity of its characters. Picador, £20, publishes 11 January

Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid: How the Natural World is Adapting to Climate Change by Thor Hanson

From the author of the much-loved Buzz: The Nature and Necessity of Bees comes a fascinating look at the transformations that are already underway all around the world: from the Caribbean, to the deep sea, to our own gardens. Hanson combines an in-depth understanding of climate change biology with lyrical writing and philosophical insight. In doing so, he moves the focus in the climate change discussions from humans in the ‘nearby future’ to the world around us now. We learn of Caribbean lizards whose toe pads have grown larger to grip trees more tightly during hurricanes, and how the ‘plasticity’ of squids has allowed them to transform their size and breeding habits with changing sea temperatures –and how we can learn to adapt with a changing world. Icon Books, £20, publishes 3 February

Abolition. Feminism. Now by Angela Y. Davis, Gina Dent, Erica Meiners and Beth Richie

A manifesto for the present: Abolition. Feminism. Now. is an urgent call for change from four renowned activists and writers of our age. Emerging from political discussions that have formed following the Black Lives Matter movement, the murder of Sarah Everard, and the subsequent police brutality towards women at her vigil, it’s a devastating polemic against the carceral state in both the US and the UK that demonstrates how intertwined feminism and abolitionism have, and always will, be. This rousing, informed read is ideal for those who are keen to better understand intersectional feminism and the arguments for transforming the structures that exist around us.

Hamish Hamilton, £14.99, publishes 13 January Pilgrim Bell by Kaveh Akbar

“They say it’s not faith if you can hold it in your hands, but I suspect the opposite may be true, that real faith passes first through the body like an arrow.” Pilgrim Bell is the second collection of poetry from IranianAmerican poet Kaveh Akbar. His first book of poetry, Calling A Wolf A Wolf, charted his transition from alcohol addiction to sobriety, and the isolation, pain and detachment caused by his need to escape the world. Pilgrim Bell grapples with questions of self and divinity throughout, and about how you emerge from shedding a self-identity that has fused with addiction and destruction. It’s a profoundly spiritual and introspective work –embedded firmly within the context of life as a Muslim in 21st-century America –that finds the sacred in the everyday.

Chatto & Windus, £12.99, publishes 27 January

I Talk Like a River by Jordan Scott

Just out in paperback, this is the beautiful children’s picture book from Canadian poet Jordan Scott that won him an abundance of awards upon publication last year. The story is based on his own experience of being a child with a speech impediment, facing bullying because of his inability to talk fluently. Following a day where he had particular difficulty with his speech, he and his father took a walk to a nearby river. His father pointed at the water –flowing, contorting, and swirling –and said to him: “see how that water moves? That’s how you speak.” Each page is awash with gorgeous watercolour illustrations by Greenaway Medalist Sydney Smith that carry that story along. It’s a gentle and moving tale that encourages self-acceptance and understanding over attempting to fix. Walker Books, £7.99

Mabu Mabu: An Australian Kitchen Cookbook by Nornie Bero

Nornie Bero is the irresistibly charismatic First Nations chef who has made waves on the Australian food scene with her Melbourne restaurant Mabu Mabu. Its name comes from a saying from the Torres Strait –between Australia and Papua New Guinea –that means ‘help yourself.’ Nornie’s restaurant was born of a desire to celebrate the diversity, colour and flavour of Australian Indigenous food, almost completely overlooked on the international culinary scene until now. Her recipes are simple, bold, and vibrant, all championing Australian herbs, spices, and flavours, and interspersed with stories of learning to forage and fish with her father on the island of Mer. Example dishes include Desert Lime Syrup, Tamarind Pipis, Quandong Relish and Pulled Wild Boar –plus an abundance of substitutions if your local butcher fails to stock crocodile for your Saltbush Pepperberry Crocodile. Hardie Grant, £22, publishes 22 February n