Maggie O’Farrell’s The Distance Between Us

On a cold February afternoon, Stella catches sight of a man she hasn’t seen for many years, but she instantly recognises him. Or thinks she does.

At the same moment on the other side of the globe, in the middle of a crowd of Chinese New Year revellers, Jake realises that things are becoming dangerous.

They know nothing of one another’s existence, but both Stella and Jake flee their Jake in search of a place so remote it doesn’t appear on any map, and Stella for a destination in Scotland, the significance of which only her sister, Nina, will understand.

Gripping, insightful and deft, this is Maggie O’Farrell’s finest achievement to date.