Books by Sophie Mackintosh
Cursed Bread: A Novel
by Sophie Mackintosh
A new novel from Sophie Mackintosh, author of eerie feminist dystopias The Water Cure and Blue Ticket. Cursed Bread is an unsettling tale of infatuation and tainted love based loosely on the real-life case of the mass poisoning in the French village of Pont-Saint-Esprit in 1951.
“Set in an alternate reality, possibly a dystopian near-future (as in The Water Cure, this is never made explicit), we meet our protagonist Calla as she is allocated a ‘blue ticket’ in the government-sanctioned lottery, which decides which girls should go on to become mothers. A blue ticket marks Calla for a child-free future – one in which she might prioritise independence and career. When we find her a decade or so later she has done just that: she is a scientist by day, hedonist by night. But when she becomes obsessed with the idea of becoming pregnant, and does so by underhand means, she becomes an outlaw and we see how quickly society turns on her.” Read more...
Cal Flyn, Five Books Editor
“A bewildering and disturbing fable that will appeal to those who enjoy ‘feminist dystopia’ fiction like The Handmaid’s Tale and The Power.” Read more...
Editors’ Picks: Highlights From a Year in Reading
Cal Flyn, Five Books Editor
Mackintosh made a splash with her literary debut, a strange and intoxicating novel about three sisters living in isolation with their parents in an abandoned island hotel. When three strange men wash up on the beach, they come into contact with the contamination of the world for the first time. The world of the book, like that of The Handmaid’s Tale, is said to be polluted by some invisible toxin; in this case, one doesn’t know whether to believe the reports. Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, this is a disturbing and morally ambiguous fable which will suck you under. Also of note is Mackintosh’s second novel: another feminist dystopia called Blue Ticket, which made our list of the most notable novels of summer 2020. Like The Handmaid’s Tale, this new book concerns itself with childbearing and childlessness and is highly recommended.
From our article Books like The Handmaid’s Tale
Interviews where books by Sophie Mackintosh were recommended
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1
The Living Mountain
by Nan Shepherd -
2
The Water Cure
by Sophie Mackintosh -
3
The Dark Stuff: Stories from the Peatlands
by Donald S Murray -
4
Inheritors of the Earth: How Nature is Thriving in an Age of Extinction
by Chris D Thomas -
5
Kings of the Yukon: An Alaskan River Journey
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6
Crudo: A Novel
by Olivia Laing
Editors’ Picks: Highlights From a Year in Reading, recommended by Cal Flyn
Editors’ Picks: Highlights From a Year in Reading, recommended by Cal Flyn
Author, journalist and Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn looks back on her favourite books read this year.
Favourite Novels of 2020, recommended by Cal Flyn
Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn selects her favourite novels from among those published in 2020: the year of the lockdown, a time when many of us found escapism and solace between the covers of a book. Her own book, Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape, a work of literary nonfiction, is out in January.
Notable Novels of Summer 2020, recommended by Cal Flyn
No writer could resent you losing track of the new novels being published into the chaos of summer 2020 – with the world on lockdown and protestors taking to the streets. But fiction can offer respite from a relentless news cycle, writes Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn – and an opportunity to consider our own lives and choices through the prism of others’.
The Notable Novels of Spring 2023, recommended by Cal Flyn
Spring is always an excellent time for literary fiction releases, and 2023 is no exception. Here, Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn offers a round-up of the notable new novels of the season, from buzzy debuts to hotly anticipated new releases from internationally acclaimed authors like Eleanor Catton, Han Kang, and Salman Rushdie.