The Maytrees, By Annie Dillard

Annie Dillard shines in the US literary firmament more as a poetic autobiographer and nature writer – in books such as Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and An American Childhood – than as a novelist. But this finely sculpted, deeply felt novel of place, time and love more than matches her triumphs in non-fiction.

In postwar Provincetown, bohemian poet Toby marries local Lou. A lifelong love then unfolds, through and past struggle and separation. It matures within New England landscapes – the trees, the shores, the birds and clouds – that act as lovingly depicted characters rather than mere context.

Laconic in her lyricism, Dillard shuns the purple passage in favour of brief, mind-clutching images. As her pair age, "they grew more avid of beauty, the royal sea in their eyes in town, the dunes' scimitar shadows, the ever-perishing skies". This thirst Dillard slakes on every glowing page.

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