HAMMER

Hammer is a literary novel that's part geopolitical thriller and part romance - it's a mix of Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch and Sally Rooney's Normal People, with a dash of John LeCarre.

The primary setting for the novel is a modern-day London art auction house. The main character, Martin, is a staff member there who reconnects with an old college friend, Marina, who is married to an exiled Russian oligarch. Martin and Marina begin an affair, and Martin is drawn into the world of Marina's husband, who has aspirations of ousting Putin from power.