CULTURE EDITION
CATHERINE NEWMAN Sandwich
Newman is back on bookshop shelves, and I didn’t think this would be possible, but her new book might be even better than the last. Sandwich is beyond stunning; it’s a sun-kissed, shimmering paean to parenthood and the wondrously complicated task of being a human in this difficult world. Rocky and husband Nick have rented the same seaside cottage at Cape Cod in which their family has been summering for decades. Their grown-up daughter Willa and son Jamie, as well as Jamie’s girlfriend Maya – and the family’s elderly cat Chicken – are all coming together for a blissful week, which is part-scripted by joyful, precious tradition, part unknown waters as they all age and change, growing into their new selves. Rocky is wrecked by surges of menopausal rage, and completely incapacitated by the love for her children. Her beloved parents arrive for a short stay, older than they were before, but resisting the fragility of their ageing bodies and the compromises that must be made for them. Every corner of the cottage is layered with sepia-tinted memories of past holidays. Now, uncertainty for the future flickers before them, challenging them to stay together in the face of various happenings. Secrets are revealed, new connections are made and life – as ever – will never be the same again. I can’t urge you enough to pre-order this – you’ll laugh out loud, then be in floods of tears, getting a glimpse of the joy and panic of being a parent to beautiful, almost-adult children.
JENNIFER SAINT HERA Another powerful retelling of Greek myth by Jennifer Saint (the acclaimed author of Ariadne and Elektra ), this tale follows Hera, wife of Zeus, who is historically described in single monochromatic sentences, dismissed as nothing more than a spiteful stepmother and jealous wife. Here, Saint’s retelling portrays her complexity, passion and force, thus transforming her into vibrant technicolour. We’ve known how Hera’s life pans out for thousands of years, but in this version we get to understand more about her motives and interior decision-making, guided by past events. We see her blissful life as a young goddess and the triumphant takeover of Mount Olympus, working alongside her brother Zeus to overthrow their tyrannical father Cronos and establish a new regime. She assumes that she’ll be invited to rule at Zeus’s side, but then shadowy conversations take place without her and – before she can realise what’s happening – she’s been cast aside. An offer of marriage comes from Zeus (the Greek gods famously being quite relaxed about siblings getting married) and she eventually accepts, realising it’ll be easier to help steer the gods from Zeus’s side rather than from outside the inner circle. Slowly, she realises Zeus is becoming just as cruel as the regime they overthrew together; she wrestles with her husband’s numerous infidelities and infamously rapacious nature, trying to balance out his harmful actions while plotting against him – all the while having her heart broken time and again by friendships, hopes and crushed dreams for society. Saint is a hugely accomplished writer and her flowing, lyrical descriptions – particularly of the lush Greek forests and hillsides Hera traverses – will make you long for a trip to the Mediterranean islands. The dream would be to enjoy reading Saint’s newest on an Athenian beach, but even if you’re simply spending your summer sprawled by the lido, be sure to get your hands on a copy.
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