Maria’s character was tragic and devastating, and I was struck by how misunderstood she was by everyone around her and how isolated she became. A fascinating character dissection and look at the role of women in LA told through snapshots of a painful life lacking context or control, and the gradual unfolding of Maria’s psyche allowed the reader to collapse with her, and sympathise with her in her loss.

She realised that she expected to die. All along she had expected to die, as surely as she expected that planes would crash if she boarded them in bad spirit, as unquestionably as she believed that loveless marriage ended in cancer of the cervix and equivocal adultery in fatal accidents to children. Maria did not particularly believe in rewards, only punishments, swift and personal. ‘It means she’s having a nightmare,’ she said finally.