LITERARY FICTION
THE HARPY by Megan Hunter (Picador £14.99, 256 pp)
THE HARPY
by Megan Hunter?(Picador £14.99, 256 pp)
The 伝説の harpy ― taloned, winged and mercilessly vengeful ― has long obsessed former Classics student Lucy.
When she discovers her husband Jake has been having an 事件／事情／状勢, she 攻撃する，衝突するs upon a novel method of 復讐.?
Channelling the spirit of the fearsome creature, she 決定するs that she will 傷つける Jake three times in return, after which, and with his 協定, they will be even.
The preposterousness of the 解答 is only momentarily distracting.?
It 許すs Hunter to 令状 viscerally and incisively about her real 主題s: the タブーs of 女性（の） 願望（する） and 激怒（する）; the loss of self that comes with motherhood; and the 暴力／激しさ （打撃，刑罰などを）与えるd on women's 団体／死体s by both childbirth and men.
As Lucy's 怒り／怒る becomes an energy, she begins to f eel herself transforming. The 勢い builds to a 幻覚の 結論 which 始める，決めるs this striking, pared-負かす／撃墜する modern myth apart from the 集まり of 国内の noirs.
PIRANESI by Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury £14.99, 272 pp)
PIRANESI
by Susanna Clarke?(Bloomsbury £14.99, 272 pp)
The hermit-like Piranesi of this 調書をとる／予約する isn't the 18th-century Italian artist, but he does 住む the 肉親，親類d of fantastical, labyrinthine building that his namesake obsessively etched.
Filled only with seabirds and marble statues, the 'House' is an edifice of enormous 割合s, its rooms 巨大（な）-size and its 回廊（地帯）s endless. Piranesi's 単独の companion ― besides a small collection of human remains ― is 'the Other', a neatly bearded, stylishly ふさわしい scholar for whom Piranesi dutifully 地図／計画するs the House's countless halls.
Mysteries teasingly 開始する up in this tale of academic obsession, 誤った 監禁，拘置 and 古代の 魔法 from the author of the blockbusting Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.
It's a gently comic, 完全に beguiling read, although in spite of a late 新たな展開 that sheds new light on Piranesi's world, Clarke's 陰謀（を企てる） never やめる 説得するd me. However, the 'House' ― its upper rooms lost in clouds, its lower 議会s 溺死するd by the sea ― will haunt my dreams.
D (A Tale of Two Worlds) by Michel Faber (Doubleday £16.99, 304 pp)
D (A Tale of Two Worlds)
by Michel Faber?(Doubleday £16.99, 304 pp)???
The ヘロイン of this 'modern-day Dickensian fable' is schoolgirl Dhikilo, a 難民 from little-known Somaliland who now lives in the fictional seaside town of Cawber-on-Sands with her adoptive mum and dad.
Her 劇の backstory is, however, nothing compared to the adventure that を待つs when the letter 'D' mysteriously disappears from the language.
While Cawber 居住（者）s seem oblivious, the eccentric Professor Dodderfield knows that the only way to get the stolen letter 支援する is for Dhikilo to 跡をつける it 負かす／撃墜する in the fantastical, wintry land of Liminus.
While D is part-affectionate homage, part-exuberant fan fiction ― a mash-up 奮起させるd not just by Dickens, but by Narnia, Alice In Wonderland and The Wizard Of Oz ― there's no mistaking its moral 意図: this is a Brexit-時代 tale about the evils of 人種差別主義 and intolerance, and the importance of 尊敬（する）・点 .
YA readers will love it, but with baddies 含むing the crone-like 'Magwitches', Faber's brio and bubbly ingenuity will delight adult readers, too.
