Hannah Charlton

This first novel by Elin Willows is a vivid portrait of an anti-heroine.

The book’s strength lies in the interplay between emotions and environment, and the way that is expressed, with the island’s song as the theme tune: ‘the song tonight is so strong I feel as if I could catch it in my hands.’

This is futuristic fiction, dealing with a world where nuclear war and its aftermath is the reality but where the potential attacks of tomorrow are even more deadly and frightening – enough to wipe out the entire human race.

Lucia is 26 when she has a brain haemorrhage and is left with an impaired capacity to remember anything short-term. Josefin Roos' powerful novel draws on her own real-life experience to explore the complex terrain of brain damage.