The Boy in the Moon, by Kate O'Riordan (Flamingo, £6.99 in UK)

To lose one child through accidental death is a tragedy; to lose two looks like something more akin to carelessness, or perversity. Kate O'Riordan's study of two generations of an Irish family, which begins in upwardly mobile London and moves to the ruthless hardships of rural Ireland, is as tense as a thriller, as precise as a scientific report, as lyrical as an incantation; she writes beautifully, and flinches from nothing. Here is a fine new Irish writing talent - miss it at your peril.