The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber

Michel Faber’s latest and, according to the author, last novel – following Under the Skin, which was recently adapted into a celebrated film starring Scarlett Johansson, and The Crimson Petal and the White – is in some ways as different from his previous books as can be imagined. Like Under the Skin, you would say that this is science fiction, in that it concerns a man, Peter, travelling to a planet a huge distance from Earth to minister to the alien population there. At the same time, it is as much about a marriage – and the strain that separation can place upon two people who love each other – as it is about the discovery of a strange alien world and the mastering of an alien tongue. Juggling the challenge of bringing the word of God to a new species, known as the Oasans, with the responsibility of being there for his wife, even though she is many millions of miles away, makes for a haunting and unsettling read that can be both savage and heartwarming.

Faber has already said that this is to be his final novel. If that is the case, while that would be a great shame, it would mean that he has quit writing novels on an absolute high. Undoubtedly one of the standout books of 2014. [Peter Wild]