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Prospect sets out to bring you the best writing on the big ideas shaping the world. Some of these are represented in fiction, which offers insight into the private thoughts of characters who face dilemmas we all recognise.
Prospect’s new 16-page Summer Fiction special offers a chance to do this in more depth than we have been able to by choosing a short story each month within the magazine. In the opening article, literary critic Jane Shilling identifies the recent trend among authors to make private life, families and relationships the focus of their fiction. In contrast, in the post-9/11 era, many novels tackled grand themes such as war or the threat of terrorism; after the financial crash, there came a spate of novels about the perils of high finance.
Award-winning novelist Tessa Hadley has written an exclusive new short story that demonstrates Shilling’s thesis. Longer than the stories we have run in the magazine, “Flight” follows an Englishwoman named Claire who lives in America and returns home to visit her sister in a difficult reunion.
We also offer our pick of this year’s best new novels both in hardback and paperback. These include Nick Hornby’s witty and moving homage to 1960s television culture, Funny Girl; the multi-generational novel A Spool of Blue Thread, the latest exploration of family life by the American author Anne Tyler; the second volume in Jane Smiley’s “Last Hundred Years” trilogy; and Dancing in the Dark by the Norwegian Karl Ove Knausgaard, the fourth in his series of autobiographical novels following his progress from boyhood to adulthood, which has become a worldwide literary sensation.
We aim to publish these specials twice a year—in the summer and at Christmas—to bring to you the best in fiction.
Sameer Rahim, Prospect’s Arts and Books Editor
Books in brief—reviews of must-read books
Exclusive:
FlightA short story by Tessa Hadley
Prospect sets out to bring you the best writing on the big ideas shaping the world. Some of these are represented in fiction, which offers insight into the private thoughts of characters who face dilemmas we all recognise.
Prospect’s new 16-page Summer Fiction special offers a chance to do this in more depth than we have been able to by choosing a short story each month within the magazine. In the opening article, literary critic Jane Shilling identifies the recent trend among authors to make private life, families and relationships the focus of their fiction. In contrast, in the post-9/11 era, many novels tackled grand themes such as war or the threat of terrorism; after the financial crash, there came a spate of novels about the perils of high finance.
Award-winning novelist Tessa Hadley has written an exclusive new short story that demonstrates Shilling’s thesis. Longer than the stories we have run in the magazine, “Flight” follows an Englishwoman named Claire who lives in America and returns home to visit her sister in a difficult reunion.
We also offer our pick of this year’s best new novels both in hardback and paperback. These include Nick Hornby’s witty and moving homage to 1960s television culture, Funny Girl; the multi-generational novel A Spool of Blue Thread, the latest exploration of family life by the American author Anne Tyler; the second volume in Jane Smiley’s “Last Hundred Years” trilogy; and Dancing in the Dark by the Norwegian Karl Ove Knausgaard, the fourth in his series of autobiographical novels following his progress from boyhood to adulthood, which has become a worldwide literary sensation.
We aim to publish these specials twice a year—in the summer and at Christmas—to bring to you the best in fiction.
Sameer Rahim, Prospect’s Arts and Books Editor
Contents
The new domestic novelAn essay by Jane ShillingBooks in brief—reviews of must-read books
Exclusive:
FlightA short story by Tessa Hadley
