Tremain has won many prestigious writing awards over the years, including the Orange Prize for her novel The Road Home, so we already know we are in the hands of an artist. This wonderful collection of short, smart and sassy stories will only magnify Tremain’s reputation as an uncanny observer of humanity.

Apparently one of Tremain’s greatest influences is the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. This magical realism style is evident in the evocative descriptions of objects and moments throughout each story. For example, her opening story centres on Beth who, while recovering from an accident, finds herself isolated and contained in a London flat. Beth is hostage to her past, present and dismal future. Tremain uses precise language to describe Beth’s wretchedness in her situation, an effect that is both unsettling and evocative of film noir. In another story we follow the last days of Leo Tolstoy from the perspective of the workers in whose cottage Tolstoy took his last breath. The story is a great tribute to Tolstoy but it also illustrates Tremain’s luminous and acidic humour – no one escapes her fastidious watch.

As a collection, the stories of The American Lover showcase great wit and intelligence. Here are minutes of lives taken from all over which ultimately tell us something about us all.

Chris Gordon