Hardback by 4th Estate, £12.99 (ebook £8.49)
If you see squirrels as rats with bushy tails, here’s a warning: this review contains vermin (and nuts). But if your every encounter with a squirrel is akin to a fairytale, then you’re going to love Veblen Amundsen-Hovda, the quirky protagonist in American author Elizabeth McKenzie’s utterly charming new novel.
We meet her in California’s Palo Alto, at the moment of her engagement to neuroscientist Paul Vreeland, spied on by a squirrel. As the tale unfolds, and they plan their wedding, we’re introduced to the supporting cast of their lives – neurotic mum and mentally ill father (Veblen), hippy parents and brain-damaged brother (Paul) and taken back to their childhoods, to find out how they became the eccentric 30-somethings they are.
Paul has been poached from Stanford by big pharma firm, Hutmacher, to run a potentially groundbreaking clinical trial on war veterans – and is enjoying the ego kick, while Veblen, named for the anti-materialist Norwegian-American economist, is happy temping, talking to squirrels and translating for a Norwegian diaspora project.
McKenzie gently teases out what makes this pair tick, as individuals melding their identities into a couple, making them some of the most acutely drawn characters I’ve ever read. A true joy of a book.
