Burntcoat Sarah Hall

Faber £12.99

Edith Harkness is a sculptor scarred by caring for her brain-damaged mother. She’s just fallen for Halit, a Turkish chef, when a virus deadlier than Covid-19 strikes. Deciding to spend lockdown together, they throw themselves into a sexual idyll – but then Halit falls sick. It’s an imaginative take on the pandemic, though Hall’s clinical prose makes it less affecting than it might be, and some will question if our own crisis needs any exaggeration.