This book won’t be for everyone. A Spanish novel (translated by Christina MacSweeney) it’s something of a fable and full of the trappings of fables, not least a mysterious forest in which a dog is lost. It’s narrated by 19-year-old Lea who is telling her life story to a man who is search of said dog (which is another trapping of fables: a 19-year-old woman would, in real life, not be relaying her life story to a man in search of his dog). She tells him about the town in which she grew up, and all the attendant dangers of that pesky forest. But as she reveals her story, it becomes apparent that her life is troubled. Lea’s voice is one of the novel’s real plus points – it’s conversational but it also carries a real weight as she talks about her troubled relationship with her family. Decent, but I’m not really a fable fan I’m afraid. RM

Daunt Books