THAT GREEN EYED GIRL

by Julie Owen Moylan (Michael Joseph £14.99, 368 pp) IN 1955, teachers Dovie and Gillian live in a New york apartment together, pretending to be lodgers but really in a relationship.

Their home is their safe space where they can express themselves without fear of being seen and the resulting repercussions — until a vindictive fellow teacher starts blackmailing them. Twenty years later, in 1975, teenage Ava is living there with her mentally ill mother.

After her mother is sectioned, a box arrives filled with pictures of Dovie and Gillian. Ava decides to turn sleuth, find out who they are and return their possessions. It’s beautifully written and particularly wonderful on forbidden love, loss and forgiveness.