Just getting on a plane made me want sex. From the moment I sat down and pulled the belt tight there was a heat that grew until all I was aware of was a pulsing, the movement of blood?

For Catherine travel is about many things other than getting from here to there. Cities, for instance, and what cities do to people; the perils of geography and the excuses people use to keep others at a distance. It is about loss and longing, and the possibility of escape. In the years after she first meets Michael in Los Angeles, it is mostly about obsessive desire and damage.

On a beach in Sri Lanka, in the cool of a tropical night, Catherine and her new friend Ruby get to talking. ‘Tell me,’ Ruby says. ‘I like stories.’ So Catherine tells the story of the one who drove her crazy.

Sophie Cunningham’s first novel is a fearless evocation of a woman losing herself to the idea of love. It will remind you how easy it is to cross the line, and how hard it can be to get back.