The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica, translated by Sarah Moses (Pushkin, £16.99)
Another dystopian horror from the author of Tender Is the Flesh, this one focused on a religious cult after civilisational collapse. The narrator has found refuge from the dangerous wastelands behind the walls of a repurposed monastery, ruled over by a whip-wielding Superior Sister on behalf of an unseen, nameless “He”. Only young, unblemished women are allowed to join the Sacred Sisterhood; they begin as the Unworthy, but hope to be Chosen, although this means they will be mutilated – eyes sewn shut, tongue removed, eardrums pierced – to serve as conduits to the hidden God. Little is said about the tenets of this new religion, beyond its need to punish. The flagellations and bloodlettings are all too familiar from De Sade and other perverse fantasies, and while there is some very fine writing, it is most affecting when the narrator recalls memories from before her arrival; despite its serious themes, the faux-religious set-up feels too contrived to convince.
Dissolution by Nicholas Binge (HarperVoyager, £16.99)
Maggie is in her 80s and has been losing her beloved husband to memory loss over the years. She is offered unexpected hope by a radical new process that could allow her to connect her mind to his, to retrieve their shared memories. If that works, she will have to dive deeper in search of a discovery he made before she knew him; a secret about the workings of memory that could restore him to her. But there are those who want the secret to remain hidden, and Maggie does not know who she can trust. This twisty, absorbing thriller is both a moving love story and fascinating speculative fiction exploring memory, time and reality.
