Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on, or the music we’re loving.

Gabrielle Williams is reading A Feather on the Breath of God by Sigrid Nunez

This week I’m reading the upcoming (9 February), A Feather on the Breath of God by Sigrid Nunez. Having read her earlier book, The Friend, I’m compelled to read everything that falls from her fingers.

Her new book is the story of a girl brought up by unhappily married parents – a Cuban/Chinese father and a German mother. Disappointment pervades their lives, but somehow, rather than being a sad or depressing book, this is a book of love, written by a daughter who is determined to live the life her parents didn’t have. Nunez is a masterful story-teller, her prose is effortlessly beautiful, and I highly recommend this for anyone who wants a Very Excellent Read. Heavenly.

Jessica Strong is reading A Girl Returned by Donatella Di Pietrantonio (translated by Ann Goldstein)

At thirteen-years-old, facing the boundless precipice between child and young adult, she is returned. Removed from the life she knows, one of chocolate spread on fresh bread and two adoring parents, she is forsaken, and seemingly forgotten, to a new home – without fanfare, without explanation. She is a girl erased – though they tell her, a girl returned.

Something about Pietrantonio’s quiet emotional mystery, about a girl unceremoniously returned to her birth parents, set my mind whirling. In a single afternoon she trades one family for another, and seemingly one Italy for another, too – and must struggle to reason a space for her existence.

The novel’s covered terrain may be harsh, Pietrantonio doesn’t shy away from commentary on class, sexism, and poverty, but this is not a story saturated in pity. Told as an intensely immediate story, it becomes an incisive exploration of resilience, family, and belonging. Amongst immense hardship, there is so much beauty to be found, particularly in the bond formed with her younger head-strong sister: ‘My sister. Like an improbable flower, growing in a clump of earth stuck in the rock. From her I learned resistance.’ Translated by Ann Goldstein (of Neapolitan Novels fame), the language is incredibly vivid and I found this to be a breathtaking book.

Tye Cattanach is reading Girl A by Abigail Dean

It is a rare book that can keep me curled in a chair till 3 in the morning, but Girl A did exactly that. I barely moved while reading this tense, utterly engrossing novel. I had to know how it ended and I can tell you, I did NOT see that coming. Abigail Dean has written a perfectly intriguing protagonist that I am still thinking about days later. Impossible to talk about without spoilers, it is now one of those books I simply press into the hands of others, look them meaningfully in the eye and tell them they MUST READ IT NOW. Take a day off work if you need to.

To ease my considerable tension after reading Girl A, I turned to the decadent new cookbook we recently received at Readings. The Art of Escapism Cooking: A Survival Story, With Intensely Good Flavours by Mandy Lee. Lee has created a cookbook like no other I have yet to find, it is a compelling read and a delicious challenge for even the most assured cook. You will need to suspend your disbelief while reading these recipes, trust your instincts and most importantly, trust Mandy. Believe me, it is worth it. These recipes easily make food a near transcendent experience. Be sure to check your spice cupboard stocks before you begin!