Bethany Pope: 3 books

Masque is a richly gothic retelling of Gaston Leroux's phantom of the opera story by debut novelist Bethany W Pope. Centre stage is would-be opera singer Christine, who, despite being devoted to her art, attracts the attention of both the Phantom, and rich theatre owner Raoul. The resulting mix of love, rage, art and murderous intent, is explosive.

In this brave new world there is no hunger, no war, no poverty or want. Humans live, not quite together, in a world united under the beneficial hand of unlimited consumerism. Decades ago a team of scientists created the E/MC, a device which transforms matter, specifically waste, into anything the...

Extract from Guardian Book of the Month review: You do not expect to come from a poetry collection shattered, but I emerged almost a wreck. You can imagine that a spell in an orphanage isn’t going to be a walk in the park, but here we have something that is straight out of Charles Dickens a threadbare,...