My Name Is Gucci: A Dog’s Story, Sun Jung (Transit Lounge, November 2024)
My Name Is Gucci: A Dog’s Story, Sun Jung (Transit Lounge, November 2024)

After living in a Singapore dog shelter for five years, Gucci—a vaguely Dalmatian-like crossbred—is losing hope of ever being rescued. One day to his surprise he is adopted by her, a writer, and moves to inner city Sydney. On arrival, however, an anti-dog war breaks out in their apartment block; Gucci’s adopter receives a letter threatening the possibility of “euthanasia”. The incident triggers nightmares in her and brings back distressing childhood memories.

The Band, Christine Ma-Kellams (Atria, April 2034)
The Band, Christine Ma-Kellams (Atria, April 2034)

This whip-smart, darkly funny, and biting debut follows a psychologist with a savior complex who offers shelter to a recently cancelled K-pop idol on the run. Sang Duri is the eldest member and “visual” of a Korean boy band at the apex of global superstardom. But when his latest solo single accidentally leads to controversy, he’s abruptly cancelled.

“Sometimes we have to retreat to return.” So says Iti, who is living in Gurgaon but is far from happy. A freelance editor, struggling to make it as an author, her life is a mess. Feeling lost and unsuccessful, particularly compared to her more successful classmates, who are rich and married while she lives alone consumed by a “pointless bitter anger, this bile that inhabits me.” As Iti spends each day looking at the WhatsApp chats of her former classmates, showing off their trappings of success, she comes to the conclusion that something has to change. Unable to bear the malaise of her life anymore, she flees Delhi for home. Home is a small village in Kumaon, nestled in the foothills of the Himalaya and the place where Iti had some of her happiest childhood memories.