A powerful portrait of an unlikely couple on a quest whose outcome means life or death:
James by Percival Everett (Picador £9.99, 320pp)
Mark Twain’s classic novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, tells the story of Huck, a boy escaping his alcoholic father, and Jim, a slave who absconds on learning that he is to be sold.
Percival Everett’s brilliant Booker-shortlisted novel reimagines the pair’s jeopardy-filled journey to freedom. In Everett’s version, Jim become James, an enslaved man with a passion for reading who can switch in an instant from discussing Enlightenment authors to the simple-minded conversation that white folks expect to hear.
When James and Huck join forces for the dangerous journey to the free states, their shared adventures forge a bond that will lead them both towards a new life. Filled with adventure and imminent threat, Everett’s novel is a powerful portrait of an unlikely couple on a quest whose outcome means life or death.
Green Dot by Madeleine Gray (Weidenfeld & Nicolson £9.99, 384pp)
Hera is a bright 24-year-old whose life has failed to achieve lift-off. She lives with her dad in Sydney and spends her days listlessly scrolling online job advertisements.
When she finally lands a role as an online community moderator on a newspaper, the dull routine of daily work comes as a shock.
But then she meets Arthur, a journalist on the paper. He is British, badly dressed and couple of decades older, but he is also clever, funny and maintains a flatteringly flirty presence on Hera’s socials.
As a lighthearted office romance turns to something deeper, Hera has to make some very grown-up decisions about life, love and loyalty. Madeleine Gray’s debut novel is a beguiling coming-of-age story that wittily combines millennial cynicism with a heartfelt belief in true love.
The Family Experiment by John Marrs (Pan £9.99, 480pp)
From baking to dating, almost every human activity has been turned into a reality show. The next step is, inevitably, parenthood – and in his compelling new thriller John Marrs imagines a near-future in which desperate would-be parents compete in a brutal game show.
Five couples and a singleton have been selected to raise a virtual child in an eerily realistic metaverse. Over nine months, their son or daughter will undergo accelerated development from an infant to a teenager, while the public votes to eliminate contestants who fail the challenges of parenthood.
The winning parents will have to choose between taking a cash prize or seeing their virtual child terminated. The Family Experiment is a dark and addictively readable vision of a future where the boundaries between humans and virtual reality are ominously blurred.