The Partisan by Patrick Worrall (Bantam, £16.99)
Chess has long been popular as a metaphor for politics, particularly during the cold war when, like the spy novel, it came into its own. Worrall’s ambitious debut thriller moves back and forth in time between 2004, when former resistance fighter Greta returns to her native Lithuania to recount her activities in the second world war; and 1961, the year in which building commenced on that more corporeal metaphor for east–west relations, the Berlin Wall. This is when Yulia and Michael, chess prodigies with parents in high places on either side of the iron curtain, meet and fall in love. The large cast and wide geographical sweep of this complex, intricate book, which travels to London, Moscow, eastern Europe and Valencia, means that it takes a while for the various threads to knit together. However, attention is rewarded with a compelling and – given the current situation in Ukraine – tragically resonant story.
