Hot for 2020 Books: International Fiction

William Gibson
Agency
Viking

Neuromancer author Gibson’s enduring influence on the culture has been re-emphasised by the stylistic debt owed him by one of the year’s most anticipated games, Cyberpunk, although – adding the general hype and debate around the game – he has been generally dismissive of it. Meanwhile, his latest novel, Agency, is a characteristically mindbending effort about a 22nd century London PR fixer, tasked with interfering in some tech-related shenanigans in an alternative past, where Trump and Brexit never happened. Best not to trip whilst reading this one. (January)

American Dirt
Jeanine Cummins
Tinder Press

Cummins’ hugely buzzed-about novel maintains the time-honoured tradition of including “American” in book and movie titles in a bid for grandeur, but the author – born in Spain and raised in Maryland, with a husband from Mayo – has by all accounts achieved something special with American Dirt. The story of a mother and her young son fleeing north from Mexico after their family is executed by a drug cartel, it promises to be one of the zeitgeist-defining novels of 2020. (January)

The Mirror & The Light
Hilary Mantel
Fourth Estate

One of the literary events of the year will be the publication of Mantel’s final installment in the Wolf Hall trilogy, which reached an enormous new audience via its adaptation into a hit BBC series. Excitement is at fever pitch for the novel, as Mantel brings to a conclusion her saga about Henry VIII’s courtier Thomas Cromwell. The publishers have promised that it will be “every bit as thrilling and daring” as the previous installments. Mantel’s relationship with the Booker Prize, meanwhile, is roughly equivalent to Real Madrid with the Champions League, and she could well complete a hat-trick of wins with The Mirror & The Light. (March)

My Dark Vanessa
Kate Elizabeth Russell
William Morrow

Hailed as one of the first great novels of the Me Too era, Russell’s latest tells the story of a high schooler’s tempestuous relationship with her teacher. When he is subsequently accused by another student, the narrator is forced to re-examine her experiences. Boasting heavyweight endorsements from Gillian Flynn and Stephen King, My Dark Vanessa looks like being one of the year’s breakthrough books.