I got two klaxon alerts on reading this debut novel. The gist of the story is that Clare and Phoebe’s relationship is under severe strain when Clare miscarries their baby girl. They up sticks to the countryside (after left a relation’s house in a will), hoping the move will give them a fresh start. But one day Clare, who can’t pull herself out of her depression, discovers an abandoned leveret (a baby hare) in the nearby woods. First klaxon alert: I knew Clare was going to dote on the leveret and treat it like her lost baby. Second klaxon alert: I knew Clare would discover that leverets are not babies. They’re wild animals. These events do, all too predictably, happen, but where Anna Goldreich scores is in her visceral treatment of grief, which really hits home. And the way she draws the relationship between Clare and Phoebe is imbued with a real truth, which, ultimately, makes for a compelling read. RM

Published by Hamish Hamilton