"Darling" by India Knight
There is plenty of irreverence, and high spirits abound, but the Radletts are loveable to their cores, even as their searches for love go catastrophically wrong. Linda remains “soft-shelled as well as soft-hearted, with an overabundance of trusting optimism and friendliness”. Perhaps this is why she remains a heroine for all ages: there is an innocence about her, even as she abandons a child and, here, dabbles in drugs. Despite the hints of darkness, and the desperately moving ending, Darling is a warm hug of a novel. In her journalism Knight has written often about the importance of cosiness, and here she has the perfect cosy autumn read. It’s a book to escape to, get lost in, and fall in love with all over again