Eva Figes

Often described as a feminist author, Eva Figes (b. 1932) has written at least fourteen works of fiction and six of nonfiction, including the "feminist classic" Patriarchal Attitudes:  Women in Society.  She spent her childhood in Berlin and, in 1939, traveled to England as a refugee.  Since then, she has lived in London.  She graduated with honors from London's Queen Mary's College in 1953.  Figes worked in the publishing industry until 1967 when she became a full-time writer and translator.  Her most recent novel, The Knot, was published in 1996.

Figes' novels are often characterized as "experimental," a counterpoint to the realistic tradition of mainstream British literature.  Her novels tend to focus on the inner turmoil experienced by female characters set adrift from conventional life.  Figes mastered the ability to create a sense of psychological dread, a fact that might make her work too downbeat for readers looking for a sunnier, more life-affirming view of the world.  Figes cites Kafka as a source of her inspiration and his influence on her work is evident, as are the writings of Virginia Woolf.

This is Eva Figes' bibliography.

The Eva Figes novels reviewed on the Tzer Island book blog are:

Nelly's Version - her excellent 1977 novel about a woman who finds herself at an inn, uncertain of her own identity, with no memory of how she arrived there.

The Tenancy - a 1993 angst-driven novel about a tenant battling forces beyond her control.

Lionel Shriver

 

Lionel Shriver (b. 1957) was born in North Carolina, attended Columbia University in New York, traveled around Europe on a bicycle, lived in Israel for six months and in Belfast for twelve years, then spent a year in Nairobi and some months in Bangkok.  Shriver finally settled in London where she has lived since 1999.  Her travels and her acute sense of place clearly inform her novels:  Game Control, for instance, is set in Nairobi, Ordinary Decent Criminals in Ireland, and A Perfectly Good Family in North Carolina, the state in which she spent her childhood.  In addition to writing novels, Shriver has pursued a career as a jouralist and columnist, with work appearing in The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and The Guardian among many other publications.

Shriver has written more than a dozen novels, each exploring a different theme.  She identifies her themes in an "about the author" addendum she wrote for the Harper Perennial P.S. editions of her books: The Female of the Species is about anthropology, Ordinary Decent Criminals addresses the "troubles" in Northern Ireland, Game Control is centered on demography and AIDS in Africa, and We Need to Talk About Kevin concerns school violence and motherhood.  Her other novelistic themes include romance, career competition, and inheritance. More recently, So Much For That takes on the issue of health care while The Motion of the Body Through Space addresses aging and the American obsession with fitness.

While her novels frequently touch upon political issues from a liberal perspective, Shriver claims to have "a violent, retrograde right-wing streak" that might be on display in her indictment of political correctness in The Motion of the Body Through Space. Shriver's writing is often infused with wit and gentle humor that keeps her work from becoming strident regardless of the political views her characters express.  Shriver notes in the P.S. edition addendum that some people label her a feminist, a label she rejects because it implies an absent sense of humor.

This is Lionel Shriver's bibliography.

Shriver's best known work is We Need to Talk About Kevin,  a thoughtful exploration of the forces that might lead children to engage in Columbine-style violence and of parental reactions to a child's horrific behavior.  While that 2003 novel and Orange Prize winner is likely her best to date, her other work displays her range and showcases her talent as a humorist and as a sharp observer of people, places, and politics.  The Lionel Shriver novels reviewed on the Tzer Island book blog are:

The Motion of the Body Through Space - a 2020 novel about the fitness craze as it affects a woman whose exercise regime has destroyed her knees and her unfit husband who suddenly decides to compete in a triathlon.

A Perfectly Good Family - a 1996 novel about three siblings coming together after their parents' deaths to decide which of them should retain possession of the family house.

Game Control - a 1994 novel that addresses AIDS in Africa, population control, and the manipulation of statistics in the context of an unmarried woman's hapless search for love.

Nevil Shute

Nevil Shute (1899-1960) is the pen name used by Nevil Shute Norway, a British writer who published more than two dozen novels.  His experiences as a soldier during World War I, as a volunteer naval reserve officer during World War II, and as pilot and aeronautical engineer are reflected in his work.  War often has an impact on his characters and it isn't unusual to find ships sailing and airplanes soaring through his texts.  The books that are arguably Shute's best were written during and after World War II.

Shute and his family moved to Australia in 1950, where he lived until his death.  Most of the novels Shute wrote after 1948, when he first piloted an airplane to Australia, are set in that country.

Shute wrote quiet novels about decent people who meet adversity with dignity and courage.  His prose style was never flashy; it never got in the way of the stories he told.  Those stories are often deeply moving.  Shute mastered the ability to balance the character-driven sensibility of literary fiction with the plot-centered demand of genre fiction.  Although his novels have fallen out of fashion, they are just as vital and haunting today as they were when they were first published.

More information about Shute is available in this Wikipedia article and at the website of the Nevil Shute Norway Foundation.

This is Nevil Shute's bibliography.

Shute's best known novels are A Town Like Alice and On the Beach.  Although they are both excellent, some of Shute's lesser known books are just as good.  The Nevil Shute novels reviewed on the Tzer Island book blog are:

Most Secret - a 1945 novel about a secret project to attack German ships in a French harbor that incorporates the elements of a wartime thriller, a spy novel, and a love story.

The Chequer Board - a 1947 novel about a man who, knowing he has less than a year to live, finds a way to make his remaining life meaningful.

The Breaking Wave - a 1955 novel (Tzer Island's favorite Shute novel) about a partially disabled veteran who learns about his own life by reading the diary of a woman who committed suicide on his parents' farm.