01-05-2025
'I savoured every minute reading this epic story': The best debut fiction out now - Pig by Matilde Pratesi, Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle, The Boys by Leo Robson
Pig by Matilde Pratesi (Corsair £16.99, 336pp)
This disturbing story about toxic female friendship and coercive control unsettled me from the start and kept me engrossed to the end.
Italian and originally from Rome, Valentina is in her mid-20s, living in London and working in a bookshop. Her main passion is pigs and when she feels overwhelmed – which is often – she lists the many breeds in alphabetical order to try to regain calm.
Valentina has a flatmate called Clara, also Italian, and it's clear from the start that their relationship is sinister.
Valentina had an unhappy childhood, is socially awkward and entirely dependent on Clara's approval.
She is terrified of arriving home a minute later than expected to run Clara's bath, wash her all over and then cook her dinner. Clara tells Valentina what to wear, what to eat and where she can go.
It's claustrophobic to read and I was desperately rooting for Valentina to get out.
Aftertaste by Daria Lavelle (Bloomsbury £16.99, 400pp)
I SAVOURED every minute reading this epic story about life, death, love and loss.
Teenage Konstantin is sitting by the pool one day, watching other boys his age interacting with their dads and intensely feeling the loss of his own, when the unmistakable taste of his father's favourite meal fills his mouth.
Konstantin tells his mother and she has him sectioned. Other flavours materialise on his tongue and it's not long before he sees they're connected to ghosts. He keeps quiet, working his way up the restaurant ladder from dishwasher to chef, until he finds that cooking the favourite dishes of spirits can bring them back for a final meal.
This unique ability brings fame and love but there is, of course, a dark side to engaging with ghosts.
The tension ramps up as the Afterlife becomes destabilised. Original and addictive.
The Boys by Leo Robson (Riverrun £16.99, 304pp)
With the London Olympics as the backdrop, Johnny Vogel is grieving his mother, mourning the slow demise of his relationship and stuck in a dead-end job at a campus university.
His half-brother Lawrence cut off communication with their mother shortly after leaving England for Chicago and didn't make much effort with Johnny either.
Then he turns up in the middle of the night with no warning.
What ensues is an emotionally intelligent deep dive into their sibling relationship, where love, rivalry and connection are all examined. Funny and wise.
