Barbara Kinsglover's new novel Unsheltered is big news this autumn - which is a given for someone who won the Orange Prize for The Lacuna and was shorlisted for the Women's Prize For Fiction for Flight Behaviour. Unsheltered is out today (get in there now - within a fortnight every third person on your morning commute will be holding a copy), so here it is along with four other prize winning author's follow up novels, for when you've devoured this one.
Grazia books - 16 October
1 of 5Unsheltered - Barbara Kingsolver (Faber)
The opening couple of chapters of Kingsolver's latest novel provide a swift emotional gut-punch which leave the reader utterly engaged with Willa Knox, a woman trying to navigate 2016, a year of extreme personal and political turbulence. Living in New Jersey, in an inherited home she now realises is literally crumbling beneath her, she begins to research its past. In her doing so we learn about Mary Treat, a 19th century inhabitant of her neighbourhood, and the courageous life she lived. Kingsolver gives her readers two incredible heroines, each trying to make sense of grief home and the American dream. Utterly gripping. And for when you're done, here are four more Women's Prize for Fiction winner's follow up books to get your teeth in to…
2 of 5Americanah - Chimanda Ngozie Adichie (Fourth Estate)
Ambitious yet accessible, Adichie's third novel was set in Nigeria, Britain and the US, and dealt with race, family and identity, as well as taking on the politics of black hair - and it does it all with wit. No wonder Beyoncé and sampled her and Lupita Nyong'o is adapting it for the screen.
3 of 5Disobedience - Naomi Alderman (Penguin)
The explosive 2006 debut from the author of The Power is set among Hendon's Jewish community, which is scandalised by a lesbian relationship. About religion, identity and family, but shot through with humour and a sense of naughtiness. it is now a classic and was adapted for cinema last year.
4 of 5The Clothes on Their Backs - Linda Grant (Virago)
Set in 60s and 70s London, this sees a young Jewish girl Vivian discover she has a secret uncle who has been shunned by the family. Based loosely on notorious slum landlord Peter Rachman, he is charismatic, fascinating and glamorous. About morals as much as clothes, and much else besides.
5 of 5Circe - Madeleine Miller (Bloomsbury)
Miller followed The Song of Achilles with this retelling of Circe's myth, taking a female - indeed feminist - slant on the Odyssey and the Greek myths swirling within it. It's gorgeously written, it works if you have no previous classical knowledge, and it leaves you thinking about it for weeks.