The Memory Keeper
Jackie Kohnstamm
Canongate, £18.99, pp320
Memoirs about family experiences of the Holocaust continue to proliferate, but when they are as vital and poignant as The Memory Keeper, they are a necessary reminder of an apparently unfathomable evil that happened not so long ago. Kohnstamm’s account is unashamedly personal, inviting the reader to join her on a quest to uncover the lives and fates of her grandparents in Berlin and she proves a warm and witty guide to what eventually turns into an anguished journey into her past.
The Anniversary
Stephanie Bishop
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £16.99, pp420
Novelists writing about other novelists run the risk of solipsism, but Stephanie Bishop’s elegant and highly accomplished latest book sidesteps any risks of self-indulgence by being dangerously readable. Novelist JB Blackwood and her husband, Patrick, are an apparently happy couple who are taking a cruise to Japan to celebrate their wedding anniversary, but when Patrick falls off the ship, JB is torn between fearful concern and a growing sense that all has been amiss with their marriage for some time. If only all novels were this engaging and this perceptive about human nature.
How to Be Invisible
Kate Bush
Faber, £10.99, pp192 (paperback)
This collection of Kate Bush’s lyrics, reissued with a candid and perceptive introduction by the singer, will thrill her millions of admirers. However, it is not solely for fans. Although some of the lyrics, stripped of their ornate arrangements and Bush’s remarkable voice, can seem precious, others (not least This Woman’s Work) gain power and poignancy through simple presentation on the page. She writes that “I loved the idea of telling a story through the vehicle of a song” and this book is full of such tales.
• To order The Memory Keeper, The Anniversary or How to Be Invisible go to guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply
