The jaws of a large white pointer shark, in which the children liked to pretend they were being eaten, formed an ornamental feature near the front gate, while the path leading up to the house was laid with the pulverised remains of whale vertebrae, creating an effect not unlike pebbles, although considerably sharper underfoot. …our garden must needs incorporate various vestiges of dead marine life. George Davidson is the last in a long line of Davidsons’ to hunt whales in Eden bay off the coast of Western Australia, raising his family amidst the stench of boiling blubber and the parched remains of his vanquished prey. Our narrator Mary Davidson is a painfully earnest and reserved young woman, the nineteen year old daughter of a fearless and renowned father. Her opinion has since been completely vindicated by its appearance on the Bailey’s Prize 2016 longlist. Without her enthusiasm this delightful, unexpected, unassuming debut would have probably passed me by.

She made it sound so deliciously enchanting that I had to get my hands on it immediately. I was sold Shirley Barrett’s Rush Oh! entirely on the strength of a fellow blogger’s review.

Around the Way Girl by Taraji P. Henson