Hungry Ghosts, Debbie Taylor, (Penguin, £6.99)
Two stories run parallel to each other, merging only towards the end when the boy becomes a man and the woman learns to face her ghosts.
Hungry Ghosts is based in part on the true story of an 11-year-old boy who had never been to school and was discovered living in an overgrown house in the Home Counties.
Martin and Sylvia meet when she buys a derelict cottage on a Greek island. Sylvia, who has moved to Crete in an effort to purify her body after a series of miscarriages, intended to build a modern house on the land. But Martin gradually convinces her to restore the cottage and learn to accept its limitations.
A well-crafted novel with a moving conclusion.
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