The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey. Set in England in 1979, identical 13 year old triplets are part of a Government scheme where they’re constantly monitored and medicated. They’re overseen by Mothers Morning, Afternoon and Night who teach them from the Book of Knowledge, keep records in the Book of Dreams, and write up their misdemeanours in The Book of Guilt. There’s a slow, insidious creep to the narrative and when the Minister for Loneliness decides more social interaction would be good for them, they’re sent to visit a family who have secrets and a shocking connection to these boys, as they discover that the world they thought they knew is an entire fiction. From the author of the award winning The Axeman’s Carnival, this is remarkable.

The Good Mistress by Anne Tiernan. Set in Ireland, this is the story of three women who knew one another as young girls and went on to have very separate lives. Juliet is mourning the loss of her lover, Rory, with whom she’d had a long affair, and who died suddenly; Erica is mourning the loss of her husband, and Maeve mourns the loss of the happy marriage she once had which over time has become increasingly unhappy. They meet up again when Juliet travels from her home in Auckland for Rory’s funeral, and find they need to reconcile the realities of love, betrayal and the limits of forgiveness.

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