Autumn has arrived hastily and as ever, when leaves start falling, books begin calling. From Lisa Marie Presley's memoir to the latest page-turner by master storyteller Robert Harris, by way of Sally Rooney's Intermezzo, there is something for everyone here.
It's sometimes a delight to know exactly what you're getting and Robert Harris is nothing if not a great storyteller. Precipice begins in the build up to the First Word War when the 61 year old Prime Minister Herbert Asquith became infatuated with the 26 year old socialite Venetia Stanley. Harris drew on the archive of letters Asquith sent to his paramour (often three times a day and sometimes written during cabinet meetings) and this novel is among Harris's very best.
Out now
Clare Chambers struck gold with her previous novel, Small Pleasures, and she's clearly on a winning streak with this story set in the 1960s when a young art therapist working in a mental institution has an affair with one of her colleagues, a married psychiatrist. Into this mix comes William Tapping (based on a newspaper cutting about a real man) who has a beard down to his waist and has led a reclusive existence. Chambers is such a humane writer and this novel is full of exquisite detail - not least unpalatable 1960s dinners.
Intermezzo was the most anticipated novel of the year and the cult of Sally Rooney shows no signs of stopping. All power to her then for doubling down on her preoccupations: there is more sex and more Wittengstein in this story of rivalrous brothers than anyone expected. Submissive sex has featured in her fiction before but she takes a humorous approach here, not least when one of the brothers tells his younger girlfriend, "You're all going around getting strangled and spitting in each other's mouths or whatever. I'm 32, OK, we're normal."
Nigel Slater is probably Britain's greatest living food writer. He is also iconic, from his "I'm not a fucking travel agent Helena" response to an annoying Instagram commenter, to his nonpareil brownie recipe. Plenty of us read his recipes for the pleasures of his prose without ever bothering to cook so much as frittata. This, however, is not a recipe book but "a memoir of sorts" and although different in tone, it will no doubt delight the many fans he gained from his first memoir, Toast- which was adapted for TV with Helena Bonham-Carter playing his stepmum.
This is probably not one for the Spurs fan in your life but now that it exists, you wonder why no one thought of publishing this book before. There are thoughtful contributions to the text featuring everyone from Ian Wright, to Jay Z, Alex Scott and Spike Lee. But the photos - of David Rocastle, Kevin Campbell and Bukayo Saka etc - are the hook. The book's contention that "Arsenal's connection to Black identity is special" can be argued with, but for anyone whose heart belongs in N5 - and Arsenal fans are everywhere - this is a very special book.
The worst thing about this book is that it's very hard to read it without craving a packet of Quavers or 10. Whittle takes crisps seriously and has interviewed crisp collectors, potato growers and flavour wizards. The highest compliment I can pay her is to say that the result is almost as tasty as a packet of McCoy's ridged salt and vinegar crisps or Tyrells posh prawn cocktail.
Published on October 8
There's nothing wrong with getting exactly what you want and for fans of Elizabeth Strout, this book is it. For the first time, she has brought together three of the most beloved characters from her earlier novels - Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge and Bob Burgess. It's slightly a case of Avengers Assemble! The novel begins in Maine in Autumn and it might be one of the most autumnal books ever written. All the Strout hallmarks are here - pathos, humour, misunderstandings - a treat.
The Buddha of Suburbia author is not everyone's cup of tea but this memoir is a wholly different kind of book from him. It was begun whilst he was in hospital in Italy, having lost the use of his limbs after a fall. As he was unable to type or to hold a pen, he began to dictate to family members the words which formed in his head. Elif Shafak has said the resulting memoir "will change the way you connect with life -- and love."
Published on October 31
This is an intensely personal novel from the writer of The Line of Beauty, narrated by a gay Anglo-Burmese actor called Dave Win over 50 years. Dave continues to encounter his school bully, Giles Hadlow as Hadlow becomes a leading Brexiter. Funny and deeply moving, this could be Hollinghurst's best novel yet.
Published on October 3
After having written about Princess Margaret in Ma'am Darling, Craig Brown now turns his considerable satirical talent to her sister, Queen Elizabeth II. He has a playful approach to chronicling the woman that David Cameron estimated had met four million people over her lifetime. One gem is that the writer Kingsley Amis took so much Immodium before she knighted him - for fear of farting in front of her - that his son Martin said "there was some doubt, afterwards, if he would ever again go to the toilet".
Neneh Cherry will forever be remembered for appearing on Top of the Pops seven months pregnant in a black lycra skirt, a gold bra and gold bomber jacket, singing Buffalo Stance. Now the mother of Brit Award-winning artist Mabel, Cherry remains one of the coolest women alive. Zadie Smith has said of this book "Neneh is cool, Neneh is wise, Neneh is a legend. Her memoir is a treasure. I loved it."
The Presleys are American royalty and this posthumously published memoir from Elvis's only daughter is set to occupy the same space Britney Spears's memoir did last year. Compiled from recordings Lisa Marie made before her death in 2023 and finished with the help of her eldest daughter, Riley Keough, the book reveals that she always feared her father would die and it also offers an insight into her marriages to Danny Keough and Michael Jackson.
