I committed myself to reading the entire back collection of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s work after reading ‘The Beautiful Ones’. It’s a story of Nina, a cousin from the countryside who has come to stay with her socialite. Things go wrong from the outset. Nina is comfortably herself without the pretences and self-consciousness of the community she finds herself in, and in and of itself, that sets her apart from everyone. But she also has telekinesis – the psychic ability to manipulate objects with her mind – which she struggles to control. Early on she meets Hector who is telekinetic like her and the story unfolds from there.

The story is set in history in the fictional city of Losail. Think Jane Austen with a psychic witchy woman as the protagonist and you’re in the ballpark. It unfolds at a pace that I enjoyed – it’s certainly not a race – and it explores love, passion, living authentically in an inauthentic world, and finding your voice in an environment that doesn’t understand you.