Three Books By Bluemoose
Bluemoose Books is one of my favorite indie publishers, and I've been reading more of their titles in recent weeks. Should We Fall Behind by Sharon Duggal was recently featured on the BBC's books programme Between The Covers and has deservedly received praise for its sensitive and non-judgmental portrayal of society's most marginalized groups. Duggal's second novel follows Jimmy Noone, who is homeless in an unnamed city and is looking for his friend, Betwa, who grew up in the area. Ebele, a single mother who lives with her six-year-old daughter Tuli, sees him as a threat, while her landlord and employer, Nikos, who owns a nearby furniture shop, sees him as a nuisance. Jimmy, on the other hand, elicits more sympathy from their next-door neighbor, Rayya, who is caring for her terminally ill husband Satish. The gradual reveal of the characters' backgrounds is very effective, emphasizing that ordinary people have extraordinary stories to tell, that actions are not always what they appear to be, and that people can end up on completely different paths and become invisible to the rest of society. This is a perceptive and moving novel, and I eagerly await more of Duggal's work.
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Panenka by Rónán Hession, published just last month, follows the word-of-mouth success of Leonard and Hungry Paul, which was one of my favorite books last year. Panenka is a Czech midfielder whose name was given to a type of penalty kick that goes straight down the middle and is designed to fool the goalkeeper into diving to the side. Panenka is the nickname of Joseph, the main protagonist in Hession's second novel, who was a professional footballer for his local team Seneca FC until he missed a crucial penalty to save the team from relegation. Some 25 years later, he is still reminded on a regular basis of this event, which became one of the most defining in his life. While it may appear that football is at the heart of this short novel, it is also about Panenka's attempts to build relationships with Esther, who has experienced her own life disappointments, and his estranged daughter Marie-Therese and her son Arthur after she divorces her partner. Hession's empathy shines through in his writing, as it did in Leonard and Hungry Paul, and he is especially good at dialogue. A special mention should also be made of the front cover, which depicts Panenka's crippling migraines, which he refers to as his Iron Mask, as well as his complicated feelings about his identity.
I bought a copy of Heidi James's So The Doves after reading and enjoying her most recent book, The Sound Mirror, a few months ago. Her 2017 novel is best described as a mystery story and is difficult to categorize beyond that - this isn't a bad thing, and it demonstrates that publishers like Bluemoose Books are willing to invest in novels that are a little different and don't conform to genre expectations. Marcus Murray is an investigative journalist who is surprised to be assigned to cover the story of a body discovered in an orchard in Kent, only to discover why he has been assigned to cover a case that he now believes is beneath him. When he returns to the Medway town where he grew up, he is reminded of his friendship with Melanie Shoreham, who vanished over 20 years ago. The story's strand set in the late 1980s, when Melanie and Marcus met at school, was particularly compelling. The novel as a whole creates an excellent atmosphere, though I believe The Sound Mirror has the edge in terms of narrative complexity and control.
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