'It's been a long time since a book has destroyed me like this.' Max Porter 'Obsessed me from the first line.' Daisy Johnson 'I'm in awe.' Brandon Taylor

In the tempestuous summer of 2005, a local veterinarian becomes enraptured by a 14-year-old farmer's daughter - his 'favourite' - as he tends her father's cows. This deeply troubled soul is our narrator: a man who believes he offers the object of his love a tantalizing path out of the constrictions of her conservative rural life, a chance to escape to a world of fantasy. But the obsessive reliance he cultivates builds into a terrifying trap, with a crime and confession at the heart of it that threatens to rip their small community apart.

'Mesmerising . . . A singular, deeply discomforting talent.' Financial Times 'An extraordinary literary achievement.' Daily Telegraph ***** 'I was floored by this novel . . . Unholy brilliance.' Observer 'A unique creation and a tour de force of transgressive imagination.' Guardian (Book of the Day)