MAKING FRIENDS

WHEN May, a 40-yearold university gardener, stumbles across a series of posts celebrating a recently deceased writer with a rare gift for friendship, she realises few people would say the same of her.

She therefore devotes an unexpected bout of paid leave to visiting four old university friends in turn, reading books on visiting etiquette with the same care she lavishes on her beloved plant.

Friendship doesn’t come easily to May. After the death of her mother, she lives with her father, who is interested in etymology and winces at most modern habits, especially if social media is involved.

But slowly, and as imperceptibly as petals unfurling, May starts to open up. Told in clean, rigorous prose that neither sensationalises nor sentimentalises May’s particularities and her unhappy family circumstances, this novel blooms in you like a flower. |