This House — Sian Northey

Anna has lived alone for decades. She is cocooned by, and marooned in, an isolated cottage called Nant yr Aur in the Welsh mountains. The arrival of Sion, a young man who seems strangely at home in the house, leads to an unpicking of Anna's past.

As Anna's relationship with Sion develops - to the point where he feels comfortable showering at Nant yr Aur - her perspective on the solidity of her past shifts. Uncertainty, distortion, illusion and subtle betrayal are gradually exposed. Ultimately, a quietly devastating revelation changes the lives of both Sion and Anna.

Sian Northey writes with economy and precision, setting out what the life of a middle-aged woman with an emotionally complicated past feels like from the inside.