The Wonder, By Diana Evans

In the follow-up to her acclaimed debut novel, 26a, dancer turned writer, Diana Evans calculates the cost of the artistic life on a London family. Orphaned siblings, Denise and Lucas, share a moored narrow boat on the Grand Union Canal.

Older sister, Denise, works as a florist, while 25-year old Lucas seems content to drift and writes for a music magazine. It's only when he starts to investigate the truth about his lost father Antoney - the founder of a once celebrated black dance troupe, Midnight Ballet - that he begins to put down roots.

Moving between present-day Portobello and Sixties Notting Hill, Evans's atmospheric and richly drawn novel investigates the balance between life and art as it traces the history of a man with talent to burn and demons to bury.