New fiction: This Too Shall Pass

Blanca is in the grip of grief; the wistful, passionate 40-year-old doesn’t know where to turn after the death of her mother, and so spins in all directions, dizzily trying on sex, drinks and silk dresses to assuage her pain.

Accompanied by best friends, ex-husbands, and her children, she heads from her Barcelona home to the coast to take stock of her life and try to rediscover happiness on her own terms.

It’s a tricky ask as this raw, funny, honest book confirms.

This Too Shall Pass by Milena Busquets (Harvill Secker, £9.99) is out now.