Ape House Sara Gruen (Bond Street Books)
Sara Gruen’s 2006 debut novel, Water for Elephants, seemed to come out of nowhere to become the kind of novel you see in everybody’s hands. Gruen’s newest—about a family of apes that are “liberated” from a lab by animal activists, only to end up with their own television show—may sound a little, well, wild, but the North Carolina–dwelling Canadian is nothing if not sincere: As part of her research, she actually learned ape sign language. (Don’t worry; the book’s in English.)
Room Emma Donoghue (HarperCollins Canada)
Emma Donoghue grew up in Ireland, got her PhD in England, then moved to Canada just over 10 years ago. Her many books show a similar restlessness: Donoghue has written historical novels, a book of “reimagined” fairy tales and numerous sharp takes on modern love. Her newest is something else altogether; it’s the story of a young woman and her five-year-old son (he narrates the book), who have been held captive in a single room since before the boy was born. It promises to be an intriguing read—though perhaps not one for claustrophobic readers.
The Sky Is Falling Caroline Adderson (Thomas Allen Publishers)
Caroline Adderson is the kind of writer who burrows into relationships, revealing both their intimate dramas and the way they create patterns that are echoed in the wider world. In Adderson’s new novel, a bookish, middle-aged mother remembers an emotional time when she shared a home with a group of political activists. As can be gathered from the title, it doesn’t go well. Moral of the story: Politics and shared bathrooms don’t mix.
How Should a Person Be? Sheila Heti (House of Anansi Press)
Though Sheila Heti (pictured) has won many ardent fans for her books (2001’s The Middle Stories and 2005’s Ticknor), she is perhaps just as well known for being Sheila Heti. She seems to pop up here, there and everywhere—collaborating on arty film and web projects, running the Trampoline Hall lecture series, touring with The Hidden Cameras, etc. It’s appropriate, then, that her new novel tells of the artistic and existential crisis in the life of one “Sheila Heti.”
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First published in FASHION Magazine September 2010
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