Longlisted for the Man Booker prize, this complex story about a troubled mother-daughter relationship creates a strange new mythology My introduction to Daisy Johnson was the instant classic _Fen_, a bold, take-no-prisoners collection situated somewhere between Angela Carter and Deborah Levy. The muscular style and blunt poetry of its stories about women often forced to contend with difficult men used the fantastical in brilliantly physical ways. Johnson’s first novel, longlisted for the Man Booker prize, builds on that achievement by blending a deep understanding of character and storytelling sophistication to examine a troubled mother-daughter relationship. The result reminds me of Iris Murdoch – that uncompromising interiority of character – and more recent works such as Claire-Louise Bennett’s _Pond_. What remains of Hansel and Gretel, or Greek myth, has been reduced down like the rotted wood of a sunken rowing boat Continue reading...
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