Luckenbooth

BY JENNI FAGAN WILLIAM HEINEMANN £16.99

★★★★★ Prize-winning author Jenni Fagan does not disappoint with her latest novel, which is easily her most compelling yet. In her usual poetic style, Fagan tells of a nine-storey Edinburgh tenement just off the Royal Mile that is creaking with secrets.

Throughout this haunting novel, characters’ secrets and memories live on in the howling gales of the spirit world, desperate to reenter their lives. The narrative takes us through eight decades – from 1910 to 1999 – working its way up all nine floors of the building in hopscotch fashion, allowing for an intriguing interpretation of 20th-century life in the capital.

Prepare to be transported into a Fagan’s weird and wonderful imagination. It is a whirlwind read and one that I could not put down until the final page had turned.