I read this in less than two days and had to hide it under the sofa when I was writing so that I didn't stop to read it.

Frances' character and her slightly skewed view of life crept up on me slowly. I love how her hyper self-awareness, what other characters might be thinking, and her control and manipulation of them and relationships becomes scary because it feels like it is only one step further on from how we all do it.

There were many echoes in Alys, Always from my life, but it wasn't just that I recognised myself in some of the situations (not that I'm like Frances!), but that it has some damn fine writing, and is a remarkable debut.