Dark academia, pseudo-parenting, and murder most fowl

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You can’t go wrong with these three novels. They’re well written, and encompass a broad range of topics and genres. Happy summer reading!

"And He Shall Appear" by Kate Van Der Borgh  

Set in the hallowed halls of Cambridge University, where Van Der Borgh studied Music, this novel is a gripping example of the Dark Academia genre. At the center is our nameless narrator, who hails from Northern England, plays the piano and bassoon, and is the only member of his graduating class to pass Oxbridge. So he’s basically an outsider in the University; without the money, breeding, or diction to ‘belong’. Bryn Cavendish, party boy and amateur magician, is a magnetic personality, and he has his own coven of friends - a circle that our anonymous narrator would love to be part of. He even courts Berenice, the cousin of Bryn, just to get closer to the ‘magic circle’. At this stage, we’re wondering if it’s just Bryn’s charisma or if there’s something much darker at play. And I love how our narrator is left nameless, as if to make an obvious point - that people like him did not matter.

That Bryn seems to dabble in the darker arts only makes him more attractive as a person of interest, and we are treated to the efforts of our narrator to ingratiate himself with Bryn. Borgh is adept at bringing us into this world of Cambridge college quadrangles, of wine, port, and waistcoats, and of the divide that exists in the colleges between the entitled and privileged on one side, arrayed beside those who only wish they could be part of that scene. With more than a hint of Saltburn, coupled with more sinister elements, this novel takes on themes of friendship, belonging, and the price we are ready to pay for acceptance. It’s easy to imagine this novel being optioned into a limited series for television, as it’s got the elements of the campus novel, the mystery figure of Bryn, the one admiring from the wings - like a Carraway to Gatsby, manipulative friendships, and black magic.

"Going Home" by Tom Lamont  

Those of a particular generation may remember the film Three Men and a Baby, as it was a highly successful comedy that played up the cuteness quotient for laughs and moments of tenderness. Lamont is a noted and well-regarded British writer, contributing regularly to the Guardian and to American GQ; and if you asked me to pigeon-hole this novel of his, I’d have to refer to it as Three Men and a Toddler, plus one Female Rabbi. And rather than go for cute, Lamont wants to equally charm us, and have us ponder on the reality of such a situation were it to happen today, under the eyes of Home Services and Britain’s concept of social welfare. Lia is the single mother in question, and Joel is her two-year-old son. They reside in Enfield, a suburb North of London, that’s often described as a tranquil haven for its residents, with picturesque waterways and parks.

An old flame Teo Erskine comes up from London to visit, and he babysits Teo for the day. A tragedy ensues, and we’re brought back a few weeks later, after the funeral of Lia. There’s Vic, the father of Teo, there’s one of Teo’s best friends, the entitled Ben Mossam, and Sibyl Challis, the local rabbi, who’s female. If ever there were three men and a woman ill-suited for parenthood, for various and individual reasons, it would be these four. But they must come with the aftermath of the loss of Lia, and with no bio-dad coming forth to claim his rights, it would seem Joel has been cast adrift in the world, with these four as the only possible anchors. To complicate matters, there was a point in time when Ben did have a very short relationship with Lia while Teo was working in London. It did end before it could even get truly started, and the question of whether Ben is the father does arise.

"The Naming of the Birds" by Paraic O’Donnell 

The author of period mystery thriller The House on Vesper Sands is back, and it’s a new adventure for Inspector Henry Cutter and Sergeant Gideon Bliss. Set in the late Victorian era, the story opens with Dickensian flavor as we meet orphans who are survivors of an asylum fire, and now seconded to a new institution. There, they’re told to forget their names, as they’ll now be known only by their new names, and each is given a species of bird to carry as their moniker - hence the title. It’s Nightingale that leads us through this part of the story, a precocious, observant girl, and there’s her accomplice, Finch, who only seeks to escape from the institution. After that opening chapter, Cutter and Bliss are brought in, 22 years later, as they’re investigating the death of an obscure civil servant, Sir Aneurin Considine.

It’s a death of strange circumstances, and it isn’t long before journalist/heiress Octavia Hillingdon is summoned to help our intrepid pair in their investigating. The murders that follow seem to point to a single killer, and this killer is hellbent on a mission of uncovering an old crime and exposing all those who were involved in its perpetration. Cutter is wonderfully sarcastic, astute, and belligerent; while Bliss is his perfect foil - and we can’t help but be reminded of the relationship between Holmes and Watson. In fact, it’s not a stretch to describe this novel as a mash-up of Conan Doyle with Dickens, and say that with praise and admiration. It has a wonderful sense of time and place, with main characters that resonate. Milo, who assists the trio, is another inspired creation, a silent, effective agent of the martial arts. And left hanging is whether you solve the crime or serve justice, when the two are diametrically opposed.