Another year, another series of modern classics, each with their own distinctive beauty and style. We are so blessed to experience new works from some famous names and incredibly talented newcomers, with each work presenting brand new outlooks on life and our experiences.
With this in mind, here are some contemporary fiction authors providing us with some of the best works of the year so far:
- The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
Frida Liu is a single mother who is struggling to raise her 18-month old daughter whilst maintaining a steady income. Her husband has recently left her for a younger woman, and she is suffering so much with this new and heavy burden that she accidentally leaves her baby home alone for a few hours.
Because of this, she is sent to a government-operated facility in which she and other mothers are deemed “failures” and where doctors attempt to rehabilitate them for their mid judgements. This intense work feels all the more harrowing given recent events in the US, and is a serious reflection on the country and the way it treats women.
- The Candy House by Jennifer Egan
Everyone’s been looking forward to Jennifer Egan’s The Candy House, the sequel to her 2010 novel A Visit from the Goon Squad. Just like its predecessor, The Candy House utilises a fascinatingly creative and unique style, with commentary on memory, privacy and technology all weaved through 14 interconnected stories.
In these stories, a machine called Own Your Unconscious provides people with whatever past memories they want to experience if they agree to make them available for others to experience, too. You can probably already gauge the general idea and, as expected, it was created with the most intelligent literary style.
- Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez
It appears that Olga Acevedo has the perfect life. A Manhattan wedding planner living in a fancy Brooklyn neighbourhood, Olga works hard but this doesn’t exactly pay off in her life, as she suffers from loneliness and the sadness of being abandoned by her mother when she was just a child.
Olga must handle the weight of her family’s secrets whilst navigating new love in this romantic comedy that is as touching as it is, at times, trying.
- Constructing a Nervous System by Margo Jefferson
Margo Jefferson is famed for her debut memoir, Negoland, in which she reflects on her life growing up as a wealthy black person in an upscale part of Chicago. The memoir was famed for its depictions of class and race in America, and this exciting follow up details her thoughts and feelings about the current state of race and class in the US.
This is another work that truly gets to the crux of what it means to be an American in the current era, and will be an enlightening read for anyone who is fascinated with the current state of life in the nation.
Get reading!
So, these are four of the most exciting, spellbinding works of the year so far. They are destined to become modern classics, the kind of books that engage and inspire readers for many years to come, deeply rooted in current themes and challenging elements.
So, feel free to check out these instant classics and see why the literary world is giving each one of them a very big thumbs up – they are totally worth your while and will earn a fiction spot on your bookshelf!
