Our book columnist highlights four novels that didn’t receive the acclaim they deserved, featuring Frida Isberg, Noel O’Regan, Georgi Gospodinov and Clockwise from left: Frida Isberg, Noel O’Regan and Georgi Gospodinov When I write and talk about books, I spend a disproportionate amount of time banging the drum for ones that I think didn’t get the love they deserved at the time of publication or since. There’s no exact or official number, but a few years ago Unesco estimated there were around 180,000 books published each year in the UK and Ireland, so it’s an amazing achievement not to get lost. It’s a huge haystack.
Here are some needles. I’m starting with The Mark by Frida Isberg (translated by Larissa Kyzer) because, despite it having recently been published, it has been reviewed almost nowhere in these parts and I’ve seen little chat about it online. It’s set in a very near future Reykjavik where the Icelandic government has a test for assessing empathy and, as far as they are concerned, potential for anti-social behaviour.
Companies, shops, buildings and even entire suburbs have decided to make themselves only accessible to people who have passed — people with “the mark”. The country is about to vote in a wildly divisive referendum on whether the test should be made compulsory. Join the Irish Independent WhatsApp channel Stay up to date with all the latest news.
