Andrew Cunning's debut novel, Clara and Christina is about novelists, writing and the friendship between a young woman and the older novelist she has come to interview and has always admired. From a simple premise Cunning crafts a story that engages with the very concept of what fiction can mean today, how it can change people, and influence the course of a life. I absolutely adored this novel, breezing through it in one sitting. His characterisation of the two women was spot-on, and I really came to care about what they each had to say. I also loved all the literary references - from literary titans to less well known voices we should know. Clara and Christina then is a literary treat, and if you love literary fiction then you will get a lot out of this.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

Andrew Cunning’s debut instantly appealed to me with its premise of a friendship which grows between a young academic and the author whose first novel entranced her, picked up by chance when she was a first-year undergraduate.
Clara is in her early thirties and Christina in her seventies, a reclusive novelist who has, surprisingly, agreed to be interviewed for Clara’s monograph. They meet over several months at a coffee shop on Sunday mornings. Christina is Clara’s literary idol; the author whose work formed the basis of her doctoral thesis. Conversation flows well, Christina emphatically decrying the idea of memoir and identity so popular with a contemporary audience, insisting the work should stand for itself. One Sunday, Christina asks Clara if she will help her move her library, inviting her into her home where they enjoy an evening which seals their friendship. By the time Clara’s monograph is published to great acclaim, she’s moved from her Belfast apartment to Iowa, a world away from the council estate where she was raised.
Full of philosophical and literary allusions, Clara's discussions with Christina lead her to re-examine much of her thinking about literature. We learn little about Christina’s life, her discursive replies to Clara’s questions rarely answer them, leading them instead to wide and far-ranging debate and exploration of ideas. I loved this quiet literary treat of a novel which came out of Cunning’s own work on Marilynne Robinson who allowed him a rare interview.