This is the story of Esther, who lives in the Pennines with her father. Esther is obsessed with experimenting with different ways to pass out: from snorting Daz powder at school to attempted autoasphyxiation in a serviced apartment in north London. But what happens when you take something too far? And what has Esther's mother, a beautiful dancer wasting away in her bedroom, to do with it all?

'Naomi Booth's The Lost Art of Sinking is beautifully written, funny, mischievous and touching. A deeply engaging dramatisation of the strange 'art' of fainting, swooning, passing out, it also has what very few contemporary works of fiction have - an arresting, self-assured and compelling narrative voice' -Nicholas Royle