NS Recommends: New books from Will Wiles, Jim Crumley and Sarah Ladipo Manyika

ISLE OF MULL, SCOTLAND - JUNE 10: An adult white-tailed eagle, also known as a sea eagle, hovers above a nest as conservationists ring their chicks on June 10, 2019 on the Isle of Mull, Scotland. The tagging effort is part of an ongoing survey by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), a British conservation charity, and aims to record the population of breeding pairs of white-tailed eagles across Scotland. There are currently around 22 breeding pairs of white-tailed eagles on the Isle of Mull, with the first successful breeding pair occurring in 1985. The eagles are the largest in the UK and the fourth-largest in the world, with a wingspan up to eight feet, and are more closely related to Old World vultures than their island neighbors, golden eagles. They were hunted to extinction in the UK in the early 19th century, with the last bird shot in the Hebrides 1918. Scotland is home to around 130 breeding pairs, whose presence supports a tourist economy of around £5m GBP in the Isle of Mull and £2.4m GBP for the Isle of Skye, farther up Scotlands Western Coast. The close monitoring of this apex predator is part of a re-introduction programme run by the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation in partnership with Forestry England. The rewilding scheme hopes to release around 60 birds on the Isle of Wight over five years. The project has courted controversy from some members of National Farmers Union (NFU) who worry that the birds may take lambs, but the programme's proponents argue that any impact on livestock is likely to be minimal due to the abundance of other food sources. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Plume
Will Wiles

Wiles is a design and architecture journalist whose last novel, the compulsively enjoyable The Way Inn, was set in a ubiquitous chain hotel. Plume is a more ambitious work that plays addiction, crime and the absurd pleonexia of London’s housing market for dark laughs. In an interview with a reclusive author, an alcoholic magazine writer stumbles across a story that may resuscitate his career, while above the city smoke from a fuel-depot fire forms a menacing presence. It’s a pacey read, but it is also an achievement – few writers can remain angry and funny across hundreds of pages – with much to say about authenticity, inequality and London itself.
Fourth Estate, 352pp, £16.99

The Nature of Spring
Jim Crumley

Publishing more or less in step with Ali Smith’s seasonal quartet, the Scottish nature writer and poet Jim Crumley returns with a third volume of close observations. He watches a stand-off between a kestrel and peregrine falcon in the lowlands and an encounter between a pine marten and a fox in the highlands; marvels at the sea’s “Iona Blue” off the Inner Hebrides and charts the arrival of spring, from the February song of a mistle thrush to May’s drowsy warmth. Crumley quotes Margiad Evans – “Write in the very now where you find yourself” – and takes her advice to heart.
Saraband, 242pp, £12.99

In Dependence
Sarah Ladipo Manyika

Sarah Ladipo Manyika’s 2016 novel Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize; now her 2008 debut, which sold more than three million copies in Nigeria, is republished in the UK. It follows Tayo as he leaves newly independent Nigeria in the early 1960s for Oxford. There, he meets Vanessa, the daughter of a racist colonial officer, in a love story that tackles colonialism’s bitter legacy with nuance and heart.
Cassava Republic, 284pp, £11.99