New York. New Year’s Eve. Part One of Quim Monzo’s Gasoline begins with Heribert Julia, a successful contemporary artist in preparation for a large gallery show. Heribert has three weeks to complete a staggering number of paintings. We are told this usually wouldn’t be a problem, only now he can’t seem to focus. Moving forward…

Happy New Year and welcome to Necessary Fiction’s first book review. I’d like to quickly say hello and mention how delighted I am to begin work here as reviews editor. I’d also like to explain why I selected Joanna Ruocco’s novel The Mothering Coven for our first review. First and foremost, it is an excellent…