Our favourite debut books of the month: Edward Burns, Pascale Petit, Christopher Meyer

A KID FROM MARLBORO ROAD By Edward Burns (Seven Stories Press £20, 240pp)

The author is better known as Hollywood actor Ed Burns. This is a coming of age story, based on memories of childhood in New York, and is the first in a planned trilogy. 

It’s the start of the strange, sad summer before narrator Kneenie turns 13, when his grandfather dies and he witnesses his beloved mother fall deeper into depression.

The narrative details the events and associated emotions of that particular long holiday, ending before Kneenie goes back to school. 

At the same time as he is worrying about his mother, his often mean older brother Tommy is acting out, causing her more misery. Tommy drinks too much and is constantly in trouble, seeming dead set on staggering down a bad path. 

The sense of place and strength of these family ties are strong. It’s stuffed full of family stories passed down and vivid detail about the experience of Irish immigrants in 1970s America. Compelling.

MY HUMMINGBIRD FATHER By Pascale Petit (Salt £10.99, 304pp) 

Petit is an award-winning poet with eight published collections. She said of this story that she turned to prose after spending time with her estranged father in Paris and in the otherworldly Venezuelan Amazon.

Protagonist Dominique is 37 when the father she hasn’t seen for 30 years makes contact to tell her he is dying and wishes to see her. 

Despite him walking out and disappearing when she was young, Dominique rushes to Paris, where he lives.

She is full of questions but he is too ill for confrontation so they begin an elaborate conversational dance that weaves from the present to the past. Answers are dispensed like clues and the genteel urban setting is juxtaposed with the unspoilt jungle, where artist Dominique finds inspiration. 

It’s unsurprisingly poetic, full of lyrical, luscious descriptions of the rainforest and shot through with magic realism. I loved it.

SURVIVORS By Christopher Meyer (Whitefox £19.99, 428pp)

Survivors was published after the death of author Christopher Meyer

 It’s winter 1917 in St Petersburg when countess Katya goes into labour, the sounds of revolution in her ears. The disruption outside the palace has been brewing for a long time and she is afraid of the world her newborn child is about to enter.

Loosely based on the life of his aristocratic Russian mother-in-law, the author, who died in 2022, was also a diplomat.

Meyer’s most famous posting was his last, as ambassador to the US, but he also worked in Moscow in the 1960s and 1980s.

This sweeping historical saga follows Katya as she escapes with her children and embarks on an epic journey of love, betrayal, resilience and death. 

Rich in detail, the pacy narrative chronicles events from the Russian Revolution to the Chinese Civil War and the outbreak of World War II. Katya is an appealing protagonist and I rooted for her the whole way. Clever and gripping.