“I never felt complete without him. In truth, I never would.” This gloriously offbeat first novel is about the extraordinary bond between a brother and sister. Eleanor knows from a very young age that her older brother, who wears their mother’s lipstick to bed and hums the songs of Noël Coward, is not like everyone else. He protects his little sister when she forms an odd relationship with the old man next door. “I’ll get you a proper friend,” he says. And that turns out to be an enormous chestnut-brown rabbit, which her brother names “God”. Winman’s narrative voice is beautifully true, with a child’s unsentimental clarity. A superb debut.
When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman Headline Review, 401pp, £13. To buy this book for £11.70; visit thetimes.co.uk/bookshop or call 08452712134