REVIEWS.

fiction PARADE by Rachel Cusk, Faber & Faber, hardback PS16.99, ebook PS9.99 HHHII Rachel Cusk's novels, notably her Outline trilogy, deviated into 'autofiction' long before Baby Reindeer made selfrevelation a hot topic.

Her latest, Parade, challenges not just novelistic fictionality but also narrative structure.

Parade's four chapters contain multiple perspectives. An artist named 'G' recurs, but each time differing in biography, artistic MO, even gender. Many sections are narrated with an obscure, authorial, regal 'we'.

This novel is dense with thought, but admirably light in expression.

Cusk's ideas about artistic creation and personal exposure are interwoven with her chosen form, but it is not one that readers are likely to embrace easily.

Clean by Alia Trabucco Zeran, Fourth Estate, hardback PS16.99, ebook PS9.99 HHHII Clean is an intriguing tale of a domestic worker telling the reader, from inside a locked room, about events that led up to the death of her wealthy employer's young daughter.

Housemaid Estela spares no detail about the seven years she worked for the family in Santiago, Chile, including disturbing events and her thoughts that explore domestic work, class and violence.

Author Alia Trabucco Zeran creates an engaging dynamic between the protagonist and reader which makes the novel a unique, chilling read.

Non-fiction

ALL THAT GLITTERS: A STORY OF FRIENDSHIP, FRAUD AND FINE ART by Orlando Whitfield, Profile Books, hardback PS20, ebook PS16.99 HHHII Author Orlando Whitfield reflects on being an old friend of Inigo Philbrick, who later admitted to defrauding people of over PS80m through arts deals and was sentenced to seven years in prison in the US (he was released in February after serving four). Whitfield recollects that he met Philbrick when they were both at Goldsmiths, University of London, and became enthralled by his friendship.

They do some deals together, even managing to purchase a Banksy from a building door, but as Philbrick rises and Whitfield becomes disenchanted with the art world, it painfully details how business almost destroyed the British author's life.

All That Glitters is a sad tale of male friendship gone wrong but, as is understandable from a book like this, misses some objectivity.