American fiction

For aficionados, the release of the summer will be the arrival of the new Thomas Pynchon, Inherent Vice. Considering his last novel cracked the 1,000-page mark, this is a much pithier breeze as far as Pynchon goes. Described as “part noir, part psychedelic romp”, it sees private eye Doc Sportello get involved with loan sharks, land developers, ex-cons and a tenor sax player. Ellroy on acid (Aug 6). Anne Tyler’s latest hero, in Noah’s Compass, is also involved in a mystery — how has he woken up in hospital the day after moving to his new flat in Baltimore? Tyler is still quietly working away at being one of the American greats (Aug 27).

British fiction

AS Byatt retreads some of her own hallowed ground, as The Children’s Book uses an Edwardian backdrop to dwell on family secrets and the private world of writing (May 7). Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall should be one of the reads of the summer, and Brooklyn, by Colm Toibin, charts an Irishwoman’s migration to New York in the early 1950s (early May).

The big history read

This should be the latest from Antony Beevor, who, after Stalingrad and Berlin, sets out to explain another chunk of key mid- 20th-century history. D-Day: The Battle for Normandy (late May), illustrates the complexity of the landings, drawing on archives from all over the world.

New voices

A 28-year-old American, Reif Larsen, looks set to make waves. The Selected Works of TS Spivet, his debut novel, has already been praised by Stephen King as a mix of Pynchon, Mark Twain and Little Miss Sunshine. TS, a 12-year-old map-maker, sets off to receive a prize from the Smithsonian Institution; here he tells his story through words and, of course, annotated illustrations (May 7). A different proposition is Rawi Hage, whose award-winning debut novel, De Niro’s Game, is being followed up by Cockroach, a desperate immigrant’s tale set in the bleak midwinter of Montreal (June 4).

Biography

Lynn Barber’s forthcoming memoir, An Education (June 25), is already a Nick Hornby-penned film. An acclaimed journalist, Barber recounts here her teenage relationship with a much older man in early 1960s London, which nearly pushed her off her course to Oxford and professional fame. What would Miss Jean Brodie have thought? Perhaps Martin Stannard can provide some answers. His biography of the novelist Muriel Spark was first approved some 20 years ago, then thoroughly disapproved of by the author and her estate, hence the long wait (July 30).

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