CULTURE CLUB
DAZZLING BY CHIKODILI EMELUMADU
This book deserves its title: an extraordinary debut packed with supernatural wonders, human emotion and fiercely drawn, visceral characters. Dazzling tells us the parallel stories of young Treasure – who finds herself making deals with spirits to keep from starvation – and schoolgirl Ozoemena, who is battling with her destiny of becoming a leopard, a superhero protector for her family and people. Yet to fully inhabit this role, she must first die. As girls at her boarding school disappear, she needs to take charge of her power – but at what cost? The book slips between worlds as easily as the characters slide between languages, revealing layers and ways of being that co-exist alongside their everyday lives. Both girls’ fathers have left their families, making choices that ripple throughout generations, but what are the repercussions for the women left behind? What terrible bargains will they strike to find their own paths? Gripping, otherworldly and unforgettable, this excellent novel means Emelumadu is definitely one to watch.
The Heroines
BY LAURA SHEPPERSON
In this new retelling of an ancient Greek tragedy, we are shown clearly how truth can be twisted, turned and reformed into myth to be used as a warning and a weapon. The common version of Phaedra’s story sees the young princess falling in love with Hippolytus, celibate son of Phaedra’s older husband, King Theseus. When Hippolytus rejects Phaedra’s advances, she accuses him of rape – King Theseus then curses his son, causing him to be killed by the gods and resulting in Phaedra’s death by her own hand. Shepperson’s love of classics is plain to see in this easily imagined retelling, where the nervous, homesick
princess is raped by headstrong and spoiled Hippolytus. Yet the patriarchal society of ancient Athens means ‘any man can throw words up into the air, and it is women who must pay when those words land’. Creating the vivid impression of reading a court document: the characters give their grim testimony, weaving tales around each other, gradually filling in details of Phaedra’s story. Yet despite the truth of events being evident to modern, sympathetic readers, will the braying men of ancient court be swayed? The Heroines is a strong, learned addition to the growing canon of contemporary reimaginings of ancient myths.
Shepperson’s love of classics is plain to see in this retelling
TWIN TALES Shepperson’s revising of a Greek tragedy is vivid (above) while Ashe’s debut turns dark (left)
CLARA & OLIVIA BY LUCY ASHE
In 1930s London, twin sisters Clara and Olivia Marionetta spend their days dancing as members of the Vic-Wells ballet company; their lives a relentless rehearsal, punctuated by performance. Preparing for a show, the twins are increasingly aware of a feeling of being watched – not just by the audiences that flock to their performances – and unsettling Gothic tension begins to seep across the stage. Debut writer Lucy Ashe effortlessly depicts the world of professional ballet, taking us by the hand and leading us backstage into the private world hidden behind the scenery. It takes real skill to convey the breathless excitement felt before a visit from a famed Russian instructor, the thrill at seeing all the principal dancers gather before rehearsal, and that heady mix of artistic admiration and cut-throat competitiveness. The admin of life as a ballerina is beautifully drawn: the satin of the girls’ hard-working shoes, the texture and cut of the coats they slide into when venturing out into London after dark, where they snatch at normality before returning to do it all again tomorrow. This is an exquisite book with a disturbingly dark heart: at what point does passion turn into dangerous obsession?
CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK MARCH 2023 29
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