My Heavenly Favourite — Lucas Rijneveld

The electrifying new novel from the sensational bestselling winners of the International Booker Prize and 'one of the boldest writers alive today' (Max Porter).

'It's been a long time since a book has destroyed me like this.' Max Porter

'Obsessed me from the first line.' Daisy Johnson

'I'm in awe.' Brandon Taylor

In the tempestuous summer of 2005, a local veterinarian becomes enraptured by a 14-year-old farmer's daughter - his 'favourite' - as he tends her father's cows. This deeply troubled soul is our narrator: a man who believes he offers the object of his love a tantalizing path out of the constrictions of her conservative rural life, a chance to escape to a world of fantasy.

But the obsessive reliance he cultivates builds into a terrifying trap, with a crime and confession at the heart of it that threatens to rip their small community apart.

'Mesmerising . . . A singular, deeply discomforting talent.' Financial Times

'An extraordinary literary achievement.' Daily Telegraph *****

'I was floored by this novel . . . Unholy brilliance.' Observer

'A unique creation and a tour de force of transgressive imagination.' Guardian (Book of the Day)