Literary news andreviews with alocal flavour

The contemporary fiction writer talks to Zoe West

IN AN AGE OF COMPARISON CULTURE AND GLOSSY SOCIAL-MEDIA LIVES, IT’S HARD NOT TO QUESTION YOUR OWN PROGRESS. BUT THERE’S NO RIGHT PATH TO LIFE AS THESE WOMEN, WHO ARE TURNING CONVENTION ON ITS HEAD AND SHARING WISDOM AS THEY GO, DEMONSTRATE…

GH ’s books director Joanne Finney shares her pick of this month’s new hardback releases

My only commandment is ‘Thou shalt not bore’

by Harriet Lane (£20, HB, Orion) What lies beneath the image we construct of ourselves? Ruth, newly divorced and drifting as her daughter leaves home, feels invisible – until Sookie, her dazzling form