In June, I’m focusing mainly on reading books that were published in 2023. Maybe I’m just easily tempted but I think this has been a great year for new books. I hope that’s true because I’ve already bought forty-nine of them, including pre-orders.

I’m kicking off the month with a double bill of 2023 thrillers. They’re both by American women who, in addition to publishing intriguing books, manage to pursue an academic career. One is by an author that I’ve read before, although in a very different genre and one is new to me. In both cases, I’m listening to the audiobook version, so I’m in for a lot of headphone time.

I’m hoping that both books will be clever, engaging and original. Is that too much to ask for?

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‘Yellowface’ by R. F. Huang (2023)

My local Waterstones has an entire window devoted to this book. It’s at the peak of its hype cycle. I’m seeing it everywhere.

Normally, this would put me off but I’ve read R. F. Huang before and I’m intrigued by the concept and by her boldness in addressing it.

I read Kuang’s first novel, ‘The Poppy War’ last summer and I was impressed. I was also a little bit shocked. ‘The Poppy War’ is an alternative history of the Second Sino-Japanese War with the addition of a small number of Chinese Shamans who can weaponise the power of the Gods. I’d expected to find an epic sword and sorcery tale laying the foundations for a fantasy trilogy. What I got was something that, despite the magic and the myths, was grimly realistic.

What shocked me were the graphic, unflinching accounts of genocidal atrocities, that appear to have been based on the  savage atrocities committed by the Japanese Imperial Army in 1937, on the citizens of Nanjing. It was powerful and real and a little too much for me.

I haven’t read the rest of the trilogy yet. Nor have I read her next novel, ‘Babel’ although it’s on my wishlist. I’m skipping over them to ‘Yellowface’ because the theme is surprising and daring. The surprise comes because, after all the blood and death in ‘The Poppy War’, this one is set in the world of publishing, is written as a thriller and seems to use humour to make some of its points. I think it’s bold because it takes a steady nerve and a lot of self-confidence for a Chinese American author to write about a white American woman posing as an Asian American woman in order to sell more books. Calling that book ‘Yellowface’ doubles down on the bet. That the book also satirises the publishing hand that feeds her makes me think R. F. Kuang has nerves of steel.

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‘I Have Some Questions For You’ by Rebecca Makkah (2023)

I’ll admit that it was the cover that first caught my eye but that wasn’t why I bought the book. I’m a fan of Dark Academia stories, especially when they’re written by people who live, at least some of the time, in academia.

I’m hoping for a good mystery, strong characters and some close observation of what modern schools do to the people who teach in them.