On the shelves

Published on Saturday 13 September 2008 15:08

Also published this week...

How The Dead Dream

Lydia Millet

Heinemann, 14.99

Another bewitching novel from Millet, an author whose cult status should really be mainstream by now. "T" is a good and greedy capitalist whose life falls apart, and for whom extinction becomes a redeeming obsession.

The Stepmother's Diary

Fay Weldon

Quercus, 16.99

In a way, this novel seems to invert the tropes of Weldon's famous Life And Loves Of A She-Devil: the good stepmother has to win back her husband from the satanic daughter. But there's more than one layer of lies.

Travel Writing

Peter Ferry

Chatto & Windus, 12.99

A car accident changed Peter Ferry's life, and this story is as much about story-telling as it is about what is told. Parts are ingenious, parts self-indulgent, parts are surprisingly moving, and parts are just irrelevant.

Becoming Queen

Kate Williams

Hutchinson, 20

It's one of the great historical ironies that the longest reigning monarch, Victoria, was never expected to be Queen. Examining the death of Princess Charlotte, and Victoria's own struggle for power, this is a bracing recreation.

Truck Fever

Manchn Magan

Brandon, 9.99

More extreme travel from the author of Angels And Rabies, in which Magan goes by truck from London to Nairobi with a group of, well, 'eccentrics' is the kind word. As you'd expect it's comic and gruesome in equal measure.

Tommy's War

Thomas Livingstone

HarperPress, 20

Discovered thanks to the Antiques Roadshow, this unique historical document charts a Glasgow shipping clerk's experiences during the First World War. There are shades of Pooter, charming cartoons and a revealing perspective.