The delivery room - Sylvia Brownrigg

It is 1998. In the safe haven of her North London flat - in a room her husband has ironically dubbed the Delivery Room - Serbian therapist Mira Braverman listens to the stories of her troubled patients.

As the novel unfolds, Mira discovers she is not as distant from their pain as she might once have been: her husband Peter struggles with illness, NATO's threats against her country grow more serious, and submerged truths from her own past seem likely to erupt.

'The contrasts Brownrigg draws between war and peace, death and life, make you feel the preciousness of things that are easy to take for granted. If you spend time in her world, you find yourself in a place that is refreshingly attuned to the small things of life, the things that make it worth living' Guardian

'Brownrigg's ability to invent character is outstanding . . . This is a novel in which there is a satisfying sense of trespass and of comprehensive revelation, as Brownrigg ambitiously plaits the narratives of patients and therapist together. She would make an excellent, if rebellious, analyst herself' Observer

'A stunning interpretation of birth, death, war and bereavement' Scotland on Sunday

'Grippingly readable . . . An old-fashioned novel, one full of texture and detail, in which character and plot are patiently dissected and illuminated so that a larger picture might become apparent. In its ambition and commitment, The Delivery Room stands out as one of the most striking and pleasing novels so far this year' TLS

'Both intensely intelligent and highly readable' The Times