This debut from Claire Fuller is a dark fairy tale of a novel, spiriting us away from a cosy London house to the shadowy heart of a remote Eastern European forest, the new home of eight-year-old Peggy Hillcoat and her survivalist father, who thinks that the end of the world is nigh. S

equestered away from civilization for nine years, the pair live a mixed life of awe and desperation.

A scrappy self-sufficiency keeps them alive, but also glimmers with madness and all the makings of a not-very-happy ever after. Riveting.

Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller is published by Fig Tree, £14.99