First thoughts

GRANTA magazine’s former associate editor, Helen Gordon debut novel, Landfall, is the story of a thirty-something journalist in existential crisis. When Londoner Alice Robinson is forced to leave her job at a trendy arts magazine, she takes up her parents’ offer to house-sit their home in darkest suburbia. This leads Alice to confront her past and question her life choices.

Although the theme of “what am I doing with my life?” is one to which we can relate, Landfall is an unsatisfying read. Philosophical themes jar with fluffy storylines, while characterisation and narrative are so lacking in description that the reader is often left wondering what has happened.