October is here, which means – in the northern hemisphere – darker evenings, cosier corners and, naturally, a new stack of books to get stuck into. This month’s reads take us everywhere from climate-ravaged futures to intimate family dramas. There’s plenty of genre-bending, plenty of atmosphere, and a few books we’re already completely hooked on. Here’s what the Service95 team is reading this month...
Paradise Burns by Pol Guasch
In a world ravaged by drought, floods and ecological collapse, Rita and Liton find something increasingly rare: each other. Their friendship becomes a refuge as they navigate love, disillusionment and the reality of inheriting a broken future. Moving across time through voices, conversations and letters, Paradise Burns is a haunting portrait of ecological grief, but also a deeply tender celebration of friendship. It’s ultimately a reminder that sometimes having the right person beside you makes everything feel a little more possible.
Bitter Melon by Liv Little
A beautifully observed story about family, home and all the things we inherit – willingly or otherwise. Set against the vivid backdrop of Jamaica, it follows a father and daughter navigating grief, old wounds and the complicated business of finding each other again. Funny, intimate and full of heart, Little’s book captures the push and pull of belonging with real sensitivity. A moving reminder that sometimes, going back is the only way forward.
Partita by Barbara Kingsolver
Acclaimed author Barbara Kingsolver makes a highly anticipated return with her first novel since Demon Copperhead took the world by storm. Moving and profound, Partita follows Livia, a gifted musician and lonely young girl, whose only solace – from her isolated existence on an Appalachian farm, the memory of her brother’s death – is the piano. This poignant coming-of-age tale sees Livia claw her way from rural poverty to become a prodigy at music college, and suddenly she starts to see glimpses of a life beyond her melancholy upbringing. Then she meets the man who will disrupt the course of her entire life. If you loved Demon Copperhead, you’ll devour this: threaded through with the emotional cadence of music, it’s Kingsolver at her very best.
Music Against The Night by Yiyun Li
This month’s team reads truly are for music lovers. Inspired by the real John Field and Adelaide Percheron, Music Against The Night is a historic epic set across the late 18th and 19th centuries, following two aspiring classical musicians destined for marriage: one raised in Dublin, the other in French India. Tracing the nurturing of their musical talents and the love and rivalry which defined their turbulent marriage, this is Yiyun Lee’s virtuosic masterpiece that spans Ireland, England and France to Russia and India, asking what lengths will be gone to in the name of ambition and artistic expression in a changing world.
Switzy by Emma Cline
As a successful financial executive used to flying private and staying in executive hotels, David Hastings moves easily through the world. But his final journey to Switzerland – Switzy – is taking a very different course. David is wrapping up his affairs with visits to friends and family before making his final stop at a Swiss clinic where he plans to end his life before Alzheimer’s robs him of everything. One such visit is playing heavily on his mind as he prepares to meet Tom, an old school friend, decades after their last encounter. As David’s mind flits between the impending visit and the memories of the past, reality becomes increasingly untethered. It’s profoundly moving and affecting.
The Disappearers by Marlon James
A new Marlon James novel is a literary event and critics are lining up to claim The Disappearers is his best yet. Opening in 1980s Jamaica, as eight queer men audition for a play, the stage is set for a gruesome homophobic attack. Marlon James invites you to care about his cast of complex characters, and then forces you to watch as injustice and violence rain down on them. Add in the horrors of Aids and this is a story that will rip your heart out. It is also full of compassion and humour, with a lot of sex and a hearty dose of Prince, Kurt Cobain and Bruce Springsteen’s skin-tight blue jeans. A maximalist novel that will take you on the ride of your life.
