The Secret Royals
Richard J Aldrich and Rory Cormac
Atlantic, £25, pp725
The relationship between the royal family and the security services has been a source of speculation and gossip for decades. In their authoritative and gripping account of the intertwined synergy between the two, Richard Aldrich and Rory Cormac present a narrative permeated with intrigue, scandal, and speculation, though it seems a stretch to imagine that the assassination of Rasputin was accomplished with the cooperation of British intelligence. They are stronger on more current matters, and the book ends, fittingly, with a careful but authoritative denunciation of the myriad Diana conspiracy theories.
Learwife
JR Thorp
Canongate, £14.99, pp328
Edward St Aubyn was unsuccessful with his 2017 reinvention of the King Lear story, Dunbar, but JR Thorp’s poetic debut novel explores similar territory in a much more distinctive and compelling manner. Beginning immediately after the play ends, it is told from the perspective of Lear’s middle-aged queen, long exiled to a nunnery. She is forced to come to terms with the humiliations of her femininity in this bleak, masculine world. Thorp’s poignant and surprising narrative allows a character absent from the original play to obtain her long overdue agency.
D: A Tale of Two Worlds
Michel Faber
Black Swan, £8.99, pp291
Michel Faber’s latest novel was published to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the death of Charles Dickens, but it is no cliched “Dickensian” fantasia of lovable urchins and curmudgeonly misers. Instead, Faber tells the arresting story of the 13-year-old girl Dhikilo, who discovers that the letter D has been removed from everyday life, before she immerses herself inside a Pullman-esque alternative universe, Gampalonia. The novel’s overarching ambition cannot quite be fulfilled in its relatively short length, but it makes for an entertaining romp nonetheless, with suitably self-aware nods to its progenitor throughout.
Order The Secret Royals, Learwife or D: A Tale of Two Worlds at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply
