It hasn’t been Yael Silver’s year. She’s just found out (the hard way) that a suicide attempt is surprisingly awkward, and that recovery is confusing, and arduous. Nevertheless, armed with erotic literature of dubious quality and a worrying number of mango smoothies, she’ll soon find out that sometimes the universe gives you not what you want, but what you need – and in the most unexpected ways.

Everyone and Everything is Nadine J. Cohen’s debut novel, but readers might already be familiar with her previous work as a lifestyle columnist for the Guardian. While her signature dry, insightful humour lends itself well to Yael’s narrating voice, some may find the conversations between characters a little less strong. Nevertheless, there’s a wonderful frankness and edge of reality to the way she writes, and readers familiar with Sydney will enjoy recognising the iconic locations her characters visit. Yael’s relationship with her sister, Liora, and the complicated intergenerational histories the two of them have inherited as the granddaughters of Jewish-Australian migrants is another strong feature of the story, and depicted very well in a relatively short novel.

Fans of My Year of Rest and Relaxation and Sad Girl Novel will enjoy this new addition to the rapidly developing canon of socially concerned novels about mental health. It’s impressively funny for a story about some very difficult themes but manages to be so without feeling disingenuous or insensitive, which is a notable feat, especially for a debut. I’m sure it’ll prove a popular read.