REISSUES
This month’s big-deal paperback is THE TESTAMENTS ( Rated 3 out of 5 stars, 1 September, Vintage), Margaret Atwood’s sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale. Set several decades later,it explores Gilead’s inner workings via three voices: two young women, and one of the “Aunts” whoprepare the Handmaids. We said: “A different sort of novel: a spy thriller to Handmaid’s moving psychological portrait. It’s hard not to feel that less is more. The power of the original lay in the gaps it left for your horrified imagination, rather than the humdrum detail of a blow-by-blow adventure tale.” Rena Barron’s epic fantasyKINGDOM OF SOULS (Rated 4 out of 5 stars, out now, Harper Voyager) creates a world very different from your run-of-the-mill Tolkien knock-offs bydrawing on West Africa. Centred on a teen from a line of powerful witch doctors,who longs for the day she develops magic powers, it encompasses family rivalries, buried secrets, high politics and demons. We said: “Elements of the story may be over-familiar, but there’s plenty of compelling peril for our heroes… A warm-hearted book that’s generous to its characters.” Finally, Yoko Ogawa’sTHE MEMORY POLICE (Rated 5 out of 5 stars, out now, Vintage) is an allegorical tale about how we’re defined by our memories. It concerns an author who lives on asmall island where things disappear; the Memory Police then remove all traces of them. Wesaid: “It’s easy to fall under the thrall of the exquisite sadness pervading the whole experience.”