New writers to dive into: My Favourite by Sarah Jollien-Fardel, Nobody’s Empire by Stuart

MY FAVOURITE by Sarah Jollien-Fardel (Indigo £12.99, 205pp)

THE author grew up in a rural village in the Valais region of Switzerland, where this dark, disturbing novel is set. 

The beauty of the landscape is contrasted with the ugliness inside protagonist Jeanne’s childhood home, where her father rules with his fists.

He beats her mother black and blue, rapes her sister and dishes out non-stop psychological torment to them all.

Desperate to get out, Jeanne focuses on her education and moves to Lausanne for university. 

Distance from her family means Jeanne can explore her own desires for the first time. She also finds respite from her traumas when swimming in Lake Geneva.

However, what happened in her childhood is never far from the surface. 

Excellent.

Nobody’s Empire by Stuart Murdoch  (Faber & Faber £20, 384pp)

THE Scottish author is also the frontman of indie pop group Belle & Sebastian. Described as part memoir and part fiction, the protagonist Stephen suffers from the same chronic fatigue syndrome – also called ME – which Murdoch struggled with for many years.

The novel starts in the early 1990s in Glasgow, where Stephen has just spent three months in a psychiatric ward. He believes he was put there because they didn’t know what to do with him and most people don’t believe in ME.

Before Stephen got sick he used to see bands every night and when he gets out he starts tuning into music again. 

He makes two best friends, Richard and Carrie, who also have ME. They set up a support group and take on a life-changing trip to California.

It’s brilliant on illness, hope and how small steps add up to become big strides.

THE VOLCANO DAUGHTERS by Gina Maria Balibrera (Oneworld £16.99, 368pp)

THIS lyrical narrative darts between a jungle on the edge of a volcano and more urban landscapes in El Salvador and is full of magical realism.

It stars sisters Consuelo and Graciela, whose stories are mostly revealed by their dead friends, who were murdered in a political massacre.

Consuelo was stolen from her mother at the age of four and taken to the capital as a gift for her father’s barren new wife.

When he dies, nine-year-old Graciela and her mother try to bring Consuelo home but Graciela is kidnapped too.

Graciela is forced into a new life as a spiritual adviser to the country’s terrifying dictator. When his regime collapses the girls escape and return to their volcano homeland. 

They eventually reach Los Angeles, San Francisco and Paris. It’s full of Spanish poetic descriptions and historical information. 

Wonderful.