The Lincoln Highway

By Amor Towles, Cornerstone, £20

It’s 1950s America, and 18-year-old Emmett Watson and his young brother – earnest, innocent and quick-witted Billy – are determined to change their lives. Newly released from juvenile detention on a charge of involuntary manslaughter, Emmett is weighed down with guilt and regret, but is hopeful about making a fresh start.

His plan is immediately scuppered when he discovers escapees Duchess and Woolly, fellow inmates from the prison work farm, in the boot of his car. Taking place over 10 days and with multiple viewpoints, Towles’s novel is packed full of characters who are marked by their pasts, struggling with demons in their present, and hopeful about their futures – despite their missteps. A sweet, charming and wonderfully astute take on humanity and all its foibles, this is gorgeous storytelling.