Reviews of The Gone-away World by Nick Harkaway, An Atlas of Impossible Longing by Anuradha Roy, The Kitchen Revolution by Rosie Sykes

Jun 15 2008 by Lesley Oldfield, Sunday Sun

THE GONE-AWAY WORLD by Nick Harkaway, published in hardback by William Heinemann, priced £17.99. Available now.

AFTER the apocalyptic Gone-Away War leaves four billion people dead, earth’s survivors must begin anew.

Nick Harkaway’s band of heroes battle through the kaleidoscope of an alternative future in this darkly comic picaresque debut.

Harkaway paints this hallucinatory world in vivid, vital strokes. The breathless storyline careers along at an ever-quickening pace, from the unnamed narrator’s rural childhood in Cricklewood Cove to his wartime service.

It’s rare to find yourself cackling in pleasure at a novel but Harkaway’s descriptions and fantastic characters make you do just that.

The best way to enjoy this rollicking adventure is to abandon yourself to the author’s uniquely verbose writing style, filled with geeky factoids and asides, and be overwhelmed by the avalanche of his narrative.

It builds to a perfect crescendo, complete with a mind-bending plot twist that begs the book to be read again — ED REED

AN ATLAS OF IMPOSSIBLE LONGING by Anuradha Roy, published in hardback by Quercus Books, priced £14.99. Available now.

IN this poetic tale of three generations of an Indian family, Roy begins by introducing us to businessman Amulya and his long-suffering wife Kananbala.

She feels increasingly suffocated by the sleepy town they live in and her only friend is an English woman rumoured to have murdered her husband. We then meet their son Nirmal, an aspiring archaeologist besotted by his new wife, who carries their first baby, Bakul.

Finally, we follow the relationship that blossoms between Bakul and Mukunda, an orphan taken in by the family.

The focus of Roy’s attention shifts from one set of characters to another before we get the chance to have all our questions answered. But although it feels as though we have been reluctantly wrenched away from characters we have invested in, it is not long before we become immersed in a new story.

Roy’s novel is engaging from start to finish and difficult to put down — STEPHANIE MURRAY

THE KITCHEN REVOLUTION by Rosie Sykes, Polly Russell and Zoe Heron, published in hardback by Ebury, priced £25. Available now.

THIS is the book that Delia should have written instead of delving into the murky world of pre-prepared ingredients and frozen mash.

The Kitchen Revolution is based on the principles that our mothers and grandmothers swore by . . . cooking decent ingredients from scratch and using leftovers to make tasty meals, thereby minimising cost, energy and waste.

That might sound austere, but it works.

A series of weekly shopping lists are given, said to cost £50 to £60 for a family of four.

And each gives you the wherewithal to cook one big meal from scratch, with leftovers to rework into two more meals.

Each also includes a seasonal supper, a two-for-one dinner — one to eat, one to freeze — a larder feast, a lazy-day supper and a pudding.

There are no pictures but recipes leap off the page. It’s inspiring, imaginative food that’s light-years from instant cheese sauce and tinned mince — LUCY CORRY