Isobel Wohl

Strangers in the Night
Review of the Ma Bibliothèque paperback edition (2019)

[3 rating, average rating of the 8 stories being 3.25 out of 5]
After some initial reservation, I ended up really enjoying Isobel Wohl's debut novel Cold New Climate which was also the premiere release of new publisher Weatherglass Books. Weatherglass had commissioned the novel based on its reading of Wohl's only other work, the short story collection Winter Strangers, so I decided to investigate that as well.

Strangers was a bit of a harder entry point. Several of the stories didn't leave much of an impression at all, and if I hadn't taken notes along the way I would have been hard pressed after a few days to say that they were about. Liars left the strongest impression due to its rather bizarre circumstances. Most of the stories were very meticulous about describing actions and observations which left the impression that was the main characteristic of Wohl's style.

1. Gels ** Not a great start. Basically this is a description of the demeaning check-in procedures of modern day air travel with the title word referring the ban on carrying canisters of liquids or gels.
2. Urticaria, or, The Hypochondriac *** Jeremy is suffering from some sort of skin rash. He consults a doctor who prescribes standard remedies. His wife Lucinda works in a morgue. The word urticaria is the medical term for the condition usually called 'hives'. This story includes the title tie-in when Jeremy buys tulips for Lucinda and describes them as "winter strangers."
3. Diagrammatic ** A woman uncovers a drawing under a floorboard and obsesses about it.
4. Liars ***** Favourite story so far. A town celebrates the feast day of the patron saint of Liars by lying to each other all day. A man finds an abandoned girl and attempts to turn her in to the police who don't believe him, saying that he is taking his lying too far. He adopts the girl instead.
5. Mission Revival **** A woman travels by airplane to her father's cremation and returns home. She observes some absurd and rude antics on the plane.
6. Very Small Ferns **** A woman is on a bus tour which visits a 'storybook house'. She later meets up with a blind date with a man who wears a gimp mask. This one was quite bizarre, but funny in its own way.
7. Your New Reptile **** A couple go to dinner with friends and discover they have a new pet iguana, a Tokay gecko. This one was rather absurdly funny.
8. Orders ** Not a great end. Basically fantasizing about Real Housewives homes while lying on a hilltop. Just a 1-page story though (spread over 2 pages).… (mer)

Transgressive Love in a Cold New Climate*
Review of the Weatherglass Books paperback edition (April 2021)

I'll confess that I started Cold New Climate back in late April 2021 when I received it as the Book of the Month from my Republic of Consciousness subscription. I did however put it aside then after only a few dozen pages. The reason at the time was that I wasn't enjoying the protagonist character Lydia who had asked to take a break from her older partner Tom to go off to Greece in what seemed like a completely selfish and self-centred way. To her regretful later horror, she has a one-night stand with an emetophiliac (no, I'm not going to link or help to define that, you'll just have to look it up. Warning, it will be to your regret). It seemed as if the author didn't like the character either and was punishing her right off the bat. Anyway, I decided I wasn't interested in continuing.

But, a few months later, I looked again at my TBR pile and the cover blurb "A miracle in book form" from author Toby Litt (whose Patience (2019) I had really enjoyed) made me take a second look. I ended up being totally absorbed by it and caught up in Lydia's (35ish years of age?)and Caleb's (19-years of age) liaison, relationship, and later life. The book makes a rather startling late leap (mild spoiler) into the future which even imagines their lives 30? years or so down the road, this jump also pays off the hints of cli-fi and environmental issues from earlier in the book.

This book is the 1st publication by the new publisher Weatherglass Books, and their future list looks intriguing as well. Interestingly, the novel was a commission based on the reading of the author's only other book, a slim set of short stories Winter Strangers (2019) which I ordered immediately. What a payoff and kickoff for this new publishing venture!

I read Cold New Climate as the April 2021 selection from the Republic of Consciousness Book of the Month (BotM) club. Subscriptions to the BotM support the annual Republic of Consciousness Prize for small independent publishers.

Other Reviews
Right in the grey area by Lamorna Ash, Times Literary Supplement, June 11, 2021.
A Confident Pleasurable Debut by Lara Feigel, The Guardian, April 29, 2021.
Lose Your Delusions by David Collard, Literary Review, June 2021.

Trivia and Links
Q&A with Isobel Wohl at Writers Rebel, April 1, 2021.
An Interview with Isobel Wohl at the Weatherglass Books Blog, April 16, 2021.

*It was low hanging fruit, so I couldn't resist riffing on the title of Nancy Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate (1949) for my lede.… (mer)