Books in brief: Buckeye, Duet and Lost Wonders

Buckeye by Patrick Ryan (Bloomsbury, £16.99)

Patrick Ryan’s emotionally engaging and psychologically astute novel follows two couples over the course of 30 years. Cal Jenkins marries local girl Becky, who’s able to communicate with the dead. Meanwhile, Margaret Salt, abandoned as a baby by her mother, marries Felix in a bid for security and intimacy. An affair brings the two couples into one another’s orbit, as the protagonists deal with the moral complexities of war, grief, parenthood and sexuality, in a beautifully observed and deeply affecting novel.

Duet: An Artful History of Music by Eleanor Chan (Duckworth, £25)

From an 18,000-year-old ornate conch shell to the costume Beyoncé wore to the 2017 Grammys, Eleanor Chan’s highly original thesis examines the connection between music and art throughout history. She reveals how the visual and the audible have always been inextricably linked, from decorated caves as the first music venues to the development of written musical notation and elaborately designed instruments. She also highlights a multitude of artists, from Degas to Aubrey Williams, who’ve attempted to visualise our relationship to music.

Lost Wonders: 10 Tales of Extinction from the 21st Century by Tom Lathan (Picador, £10.99)

If it is the case that we are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction event, Tom Lathan’s book could not be more timely or more important. Focusing on 10 little known extinctions from the 21st century, from a Malaysian micro snail to a pipistrelle bat, Lathan combines natural history with stories of both destruction and discovery, and interviews those who are still engaged in efforts to protect nature. Brimming with passion and meticulous research, it’s infused with a note of quiet optimism.

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