is a debut novel by Courtney Collins, an Australian writer and, if her biography is to be believed, grave-digger. Indeed, death haunts almost every page of his earthy story, set in 1921, about a young woman running for her life through the Outback - from the title and opening page (a "Prelude to Death") to the final, heart-stopping paragraphs. Our heroine is Jessie, who has seen more and done more in 26 years than most of us accomplish in four score. Having worked at a circus, riding horses, she rustled cattle and landed in prison, from which she escapes. What makes both striking and deeply unsettling is the narrative point of view. Jessie's ascent up a mountain, pursued by furious lawmen, her lover and a sergeant, is narrated by her own dead child, who has had her throat slit and been buried in the soil: "Down here I have come to know two things: birds fall down and dirt can wait. Eventually, teeth and skin and twists of bone will all be given up to it." is an extraordinary debut.

Victoria Hislop's fiction, which includes bestsellers such as , is a candidate for my just-invented genre: Intelligent Beach. Her elegant, accessible prose and characterisation are perfect for lazy, long summer days. But Hislop's writing has a depth and a darkness that will have you pondering her fiction long after the sunburn fades. Set before, during and after the Spanish Civil War, centres on the Ramirez family, whose vexed history is related to a rather sad, lonely 35-year-old called Sonia. The war splits the Ramirez clan in two. Set initially on Grenada, we follow Mercedes as she pursues her first love, a guitar player called Javier, who is fighting Franco in Malaga. Mercedes' brother, meanwhile, is fighting for the republic in Madrid and Barcelona. Both Hislop and the prolific Jane Wymark, who narrates this new audiobook, are strongest during war-time Spain. The only weak spot is Sonia's framing narrative, which feels like a half-hearted attempt to make the past relevant.