Roddy Doyle excelled himself with Smile (Jonathan Cape), a typically bittersweet novella about a middle-aged man’s memories of his schooldays which pulls the rug shockingly from under the reader’s feet. Debut novelist Preti Taneja set her fierce, freewheeling version, We That Are Young (Galley Beggar), in contemporary India, with fascinating results. Meanwhile, the intimate horrors of a toxic marriage – and toxic parents – were skewered in Gwendoline Riley’s pin-sharp First Love (Granta). Bernard MacLaverty’s Midwinter Break (Jonathan Cape), about an elderly married couple on a mini-break in Amsterdam, may put you off the festive sherry: its portrayal of the tightening vice of alcohol addiction is unparalleled. • What have you enjoyed reading in 2017?

Source: The Guardian November 30, 2017 07:30 UTC