5 of the year’s best works of fiction

A look at this year’s top-tier works fiction:

“James,” By Percival Everett

“James” is a spin on “Huckleberry Finn” that does just about everything a novel can do. It starts with the provocative idea that Huck’s enslaved pal Jim (who prefers to go by James) was much smarter and better educated than anyone knew. “James,” which closely follows events from Mark Twain’s original story, finds the title character on the lam after he’s accused of murder in a page-turner that features vivid characters, breathless plotting, wizardly experiments with point of view and a moving conclusion. Expect lots of awards for “James.”

“Time of the Child,” By Niall Williams

We don’t get new novels from the “Four Letters of Love” and “This Is Happiness” writer as often as I’d like, but when they appear, they always are worth the wait. “Time of the Child” returns to the fictional Irish village of Faha, where many of Williams’ works are set. Its main characters are a 70ish doctor and his adult daughter, who lives with him in a home that also houses his medical practice. Their lives are upended by the discovery of an abandoned child, whom they secretly care for while not looking very hard for a permanent home for the baby. “Child” wears its magical realist flourishes lightly — the story takes place at Christmastime and there are echoes of biblical tales — and finds unexpected, moving ways to figure out what’s best for a bunch of people in an impossible situation.

“Headshot,” By Rita Bullwinkel

Don’t care about boxing. Don’t know many teenage girls. Not interested in Reno, Nev. All of these things are true of me and they’re crucial to “Headshot,” but that just goes to show how sometimes the book you need is one you’d never think of. Each chapter in “Headshot” covers a different bout in a round-robin boxing tournament for adolescent girls, and Bullwinkel dives deeply into their minds. We learn what they’re thinking when they box, whether they like boxing, what drew them to the sport/might make them quit, what they think about their opponents, as well as what troubles them about their families and friends. By the end of the book, you feel like you know the contestants intimately — and like these pugilists are not as different from you as they seem.

“Table for Two,” By Amor Towles

It’s my new favorite Towles book, and that’s saying something since his “A Gentleman in Moscow” was a blockbuster and his “The Lincoln Highway” was a they-don’t-write-’em-like-they-used-to gem of an adventure. These seven cinematic tales introduce us to endearing and confounding people like the title character of “The Ballad of Timothy Touchett,” who accidentally becomes involved in plagiarism and fraud. Or small-time actor (and friend of Olivia de Havilland) Evelyn, who was in Towles’ snappy “Rules of Civility,” and returns for a novella in “ Table” that’s called “Eve in Hollywood.” Most of the stories nod to screwball comedy and other movie genres of the ‘30s but “Eve in Hollywood” is an atmospheric dive into ‘40s film noir. Each of the tales is so rich that it feels like “Table” is giving you seven books in one handsome package.

“The Heart in Winter,” By Kevin Barry

Somehow, I had never read any of Barry’s rambunctious fiction (which includes “Night Boat to Tangier”) until I picked up this compact marvel, a western powered by both romance and a critique of colonialism. Our “ Heart in Winter” hero is a reprobate who bums around late 19th-century Montana, vowing to walk the straight and narrow while frequently blacking out from too much drink. Maybe the love of a good woman will help him? He finds out when he instantly falls for a mail-order bride and resolves to: A. Rescue her from her husband-to-be, and B. Make her his. They take off for San Francisco, with lawmen and outlaws on their trail. Barry’s book moves like crazy, with one adventure after another to help the pair (and readers) confirm that their love is both real and really dangerous.

Tribune News Service