The three novels today make for a wonderful mixed bag of delights. Will Self with his new ‘state of an era’ satire, then Elizabeth Day and her world of English privilege and power. Casey Scieszka humanizes immortality through her family tale.

"The Quantity Theory of Morality" by Will Self

Over 35 years ago, Will published his "The Quantity Theory of Insanity" to great acclaim, and it got on the Booker shortlist. He was hailed as one of the angry New Gen writers, the barbed and provocative British authors of their time. So here is the ‘update’, a sequel of sorts, reflecting on an era when the British middle class had so much time and money on their hands. It’s a big, state-of-the-era satire, and the recurring psychologist Zack Busner, as seen in countless Self books, can be counted on to make an appearance. The overhanging theory is that there is a very finite amount of morality to pass around, and that is reflective of today’s human condition. The novel opens in Big Chill-style, as narrator Will and a group of Hampstead friends are described and followed; all are liberal-democrat types, and seemingly reasonable and tolerant.

Having inserted himself into the narrative, Self proceeds to write variations on the same theme, multiple iterations of the same basic storyline, but with subtle (and at times, not so subtle) differences. For example, this meeting among friends of both genders is recast as all the men being gay, and each character is mentioned alongside the length and girth of their penis. This same meeting is then written with all the characters suddenly female. And there is a point being made with each iteration, as the paucity in morality is being highlighted, but how that is manifested becomes different with each story being told. The alienation caused by modern life is one of the big themes of this satirical novel. It’s not for everyone, as there is no traditional plot, but more pages of stream of consciousness. Self does not apply brakes to himself or to his writing, and that may take some getting used to.

"One of Us" by Elizabeth Day

Described as part Patricia Highsmith, and part Evelyn Waugh, this new novel of Day is presented as a political thriller, but it’s also a penetrating portrait of Power and Privilege, British-style. At the center of the narrative is the Fitzmaurice family. Ben Fitzmaurice is a close friend of the Prime Minister and tipped to succeed him. Sister Fliss has been found dead on a beach in Bali, Indonesia. Is it a tragic accident or a suspicious suicide? Orbiting around the family are the likes of Martin Gilmour, who had been a college best friend of Ben but had paid a stiff price for his loyalty. Then there is Andrew Jarvis, another college mate who has made a ton of money and uses it to keep the Fitzmaurices owing him. And there is Richard Take, a disgraced fellow Member of Parliament of Ben’s, who embarks on his own personal take on the political comeback.

Part Patricia Highsmith, and part Evelyn Waugh, is one description ascribed to this novel, and it works, as there is much to enjoy. The various characters come to vibrant life via the sure pen of Day. Serena is the wife of Ben, and their daughter Cosimo is an environmental activist - something she’s keeping hidden from the family. It’s all about skeletons in the closet, black sheep, and dark secrets that have been kept from public scrutiny, and how the line between friendship and betrayal can be very thin. In short, it's everyday life among the rich and powerful, and how so much of what the public eye gets to see is a mere facade for what really goes on, under the trappings of the Fab Life. And trust me, you will end up reading this novel hoping it's just Book One of a planned series, as these characters will find a way into your hearts, and you’ll want to know what happens next. A rousing weekend read!

"The Fountain" by Casey Scieszka

Vera Van Valkenburgh is forever 26 years of age in appearance, but is actually more than two centuries old. When we meet her, after 188 years of wandering around the US, she’s heading back to the Catskills, and a little town where she grew up with her mother, and brother, Eli. She poses as a Forest Ranger and embeds herself in the community. She longs to be released from this ‘curse’ of immortality, and wishes to find a way out of the situation, and doing so back in the place where it all began. What she did not expect is to find Eli also back in the town they both had promised they would never return to. And he’s with a woman named Lydia, who is cursed with the same immortality gift. How the three acquired this condition, and whether it can be harnessed for the benefit of all mankind would seem to be a good reason to band together - but is that what’s really on the agenda?

What Scieszka does very well is blend the everyday and mundane with the spectacular and otherworldly. There’s this mysterious, very well-funded company that’s mysteriously snapping up all the local properties at exorbitant prices, and that would seem to be where Lydia comes into the picture, as she’s the local representative of the West Coast tech billionaire Matthew Barbery. Why he would be interested in acquiring all this land is what we need to discover. Meanwhile, the Fountain of Eternal Youth LLC is a local enigma, and the community is dying to make sense of this unusual play on their land. Immortality, science, capitalism, technology, and Nature - which combination provides meaning, and makes the actions of our protagonists sensible, and even rational? And there’s always the thread of family, and what the pulling of that specific thread can mean to both Vera and Eli.