Fiction

The Pharmacist

Rachelle Atalla
Hodder & Stoughton, Available May 12.

THEY say never judge a book by its cover, but I took one look at the livid red cover of The Pharmacist, and I wanted to dive inside.
I wasn’t disappointed. A claustrophobic nether world lies within the 350 or so pages of Rachelle Atalla’s debut novel.
In this post-apocalyptic airless city-in-a-bunker, people exist from day-to-day; going about their business like ants. Busy doing nothing. We are not told why they are there. Only that they have been there long enough for hope to have faded into oblivion.
This could be a recipe for ennui, but in the capable hands of Atalla, it is anything but.
The story is told through the eyes of a young woman, a pharmacist known as Wolfe. All the ‘inmates’ address each other by their surnames. It’s all part of a systematic process of dehumanisation.
   Wolfe is our eyes and ears in the burrow-like bunker, which is governed by an all-powerful leader by the name of ND.
ND lives in some style in his luxury quarters, complete with personal chef, while his people suck on indeterminate gloop from food pouches.
Through Wolfe, we glimpse the everyday agony experienced by inmates as they repeat routines in a heavily regulated – and medicated – society.
They wear boiler-suits and sand shoes and live cheek-by-jowl in dormitories. Devoid of the comforts of their old lives, hope is hard.
The action opens with a man lying on the concrete floor of a recreation room. As Stirling, one of the bunker’s doctors, tries to help the man, Wolfe asks a couple of kids what happened. He has swallowed all the plastic Monopoly houses, she is told by one boy. And the hotels, a girl adds.
From page one, Atalla guides the reader adroitly into hearts and minds as Wolfe navigates a path which is littered with potential booby traps.
    The feeling of claustrophobia is almost overpowering at times, but the humanity of Atalla’s storytelling powers through the gloom. 
    One of the most moving scenes in the novel comes when a baby is born against the odds. 
The positive effect this new life has on the bunker’s inhabitants is palpable.
    There are shades of George Orwell in this stunning writing debut, but Rachelle Atalla’s voice is highly original. And wholly her own.

9/10
Jan Patience
 

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9/10

 

The No-Show by Beth O'Leary is published in hardback by Quercus, priced £14.99 (ebook £8.99). Available now

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7/10

 

Non-fiction

Left On Tenth: A Second Chance At Life by Delia Ephron is published in hardback by Doubleday, priced £16.99 (ebook £9.99).

Author, screenwriter and playwright Delia Ephron is best known for romantic comedies such as You've Got Mail, and for collaborating with sister Nora on films such as Sleepless In Seattle. Her wry commentary on life's challenges, large and small, combined with her witty dialogue means many of her best lines have become mantras for the middle-aged woman. Left On Tenth makes good use of these talents, in a memoir documenting Ephron's life after the loss of her beloved husband of over 30 years, her unexpected love affair with an old flame, and an epic battle with cancer. Tempting as it is to read this as another screenplay, this book is underpinned with the realisation it is not a movie, it's real life - in all its pain and glory. Ephron is fearless in her investigation of the circumstances, coincidences and emotions which can derail and destabilise us at any moment, for better or for worse, and her famous lightness of touch takes the reader with her.

8/10

 

Children's book of the week

Amma's Sari by Sandhya Parappukkaran, illustrated by Michelle Pereira, is published in hardback by Hardie Grant Children's Publishing, priced £11.99 (no ebook). Available April 28

Readers will be swept up in the illustrations of Amma's Sari just as six-year-old Shreya is in the folds of her mother's outfit. This is a touching tale of living in two worlds: Shreya is a second-generation immigrant, and is caught between her home life and her mum - who wears a beautiful sari every day - and the western country she lives in, where people can't help but stare when they're out and about. Shreya might have complicated feelings about her mother's sari and how it sets them out from the crowd, but a small crisis helps change her perspective. The words are lyrical and easy to read, the illustrations are gorgeous, and at its core this is a story of loving your culture and where you come from - something many readers will likely relate to.

9/10