I somehow missed Anna Spargo-Ryan’s 2016 debut novel, The Paper House. I had requested it and felt mildly insulted when it didn’t arrive but – despite the praise it received – my apathy paired with my to-be-read (TBR) pile was (and still is) such that I really don’t get to read anything other than the books I receive for review.

Very happily however, I received her second novel, The Gulf, and was very impressed by the Aussie author. In fact I was enchanted by this book, which offers readers a satisfying blend of bleak hopelessness gently mixed with a sense of whimsy or wistfulness.