The Cure for Death by Lightning, by Gail AndersonDargatz (Virago, £6.99 in UK)

A remote farm in British Columbia is the setting for this debut novel, which grabs the reader's attention from the opening sentence - "The cure for death by lightning was handwritten in thick, messy blue ink in my mother's scrapbook, under the recipe for my father's favourite oatcakes: Dunk the dead by lightning in a cold water bath for two hours and if still dead, add vinegar and soak for an hour more" - and doesn't let go again. Murder, child abuse, racism, alcoholism, demonic possession: this is no rural idyll, but it has its idyllic moments, mostly to do with the stunning landscape, the homespun wisdom of the above-mentioned scrapbook and the tenderness of blossoming young love. Beautifully written, effortlessly sustained, and every character, even the most eccentric, is a winner. A.W.