After two books Clare Morrall was on my “must buy in hardback” list and she’s not moving off it as this, her third book, is superb.

This book really flows. The narrative jumps around Jessica’s life: in her forties the story is told in the first person including looking back to her early adulthood and her childhood is narrated in the third person. “Jump” is the wrong word though because the whole thing joins up so seamlessly. This is writing so good that you could almost read the book without noticing how well it’s written - the words just take you exactly where you want them to. It’s not invisible writing though, it’s just like sitting in a spa pool with gloriously warm water flowing over you, you don’t need to do anything, you just enjoy letting the words wash over you.

The story isn’t bad either. I found the cast of characters to be very believable - even when they were making the most ludicrous decisions or acting stupidly I found myself believing that these people really would do that.

Best book I’ve read this year at the very least.