Salvage, By Gee Williams

A couple holidaying in a Welsh seaside cottage come across a ring on the beach. To their horror, it has two bony fingers still attached.

The novel, which doesn't turn out to be a murder mystery, soon breaks off into several discrete sections as five characters bound by mariage, friendship and desire are thrown off course by unexpected discoveries.

While there is plenty to enjoy in this unguarded debut, it takes patience to adapt to Williams's intense and detail-packed narrative. The mystical and mundane lock horns in an unconventional exploration of betrayal and loss.