31 Days Of Wonder

By Tom Winter Corsair, £14.99

Twenty-somethings Alice and Ben have a fleeting encounter one day in Grosvenor Square. They are inexplicably drawn to each other, but will their paths ever cross again? The narrative thread of the book works reasonably well, but the writing is saccharine, and the protagonists caricatures. Eccentric Ben is suffering from an undisclosed mental illness, but the clunky pronouncements that he’s “on meds” give you no real insight into why. Alice, on the other hand, seems defined by her weight – everyone in her life keeps telling her she’s fat – but why does she put up with the constant put-downs? It’s difficult to believe in these characters, and consequently hard to care if they find happiness or not.