It’s deceptively simple, this book: a teenage girl drowns and her parents, boyfriend and sister are left to pick up the pieces.

But Francine Prose has a deft hand and expertly weaves a tale of a heat-oppressed, suppressed-grief summer, where everything has a slightly manic, sinister edge.

In Nico, the 14-year-old protaganist, she has captured exactly what it’s like to be a teenager, and although you know Nico’s decisions are the wrong ones as she makes them, the beautifully judged writing sweeps you along, making you feel every cut and snub as she does and leaving you wishing desperately for everything to be alright.

Lyrical, visual and absorbing, this is one for your holiday.