The good book

Columnist Fiona Gibson recommends Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler (Vintage, (pounds) 6.99) Anne Tyler is a genius for making the mundane compelling. No one is ordinary once you peel off a layer or two. In Ladder of Years, a middle-aged woman on holiday with her husband and children takes a solo walk along the beach - and keeps on walking. She rents a flat, finds a job plus younger lover; although her family are frantic and angry, no one can remember the colour of her eyes. I love Anne Tyler's eye for quirky detail. Ladder of Years simmers with quietly bonkers behaviour. I'm planning to clone the bit of her brain which enables her to write the way she does. In the past I've let baths overflow, and it's usually been Anne Tyler's fault.

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