Porter reaches into the shadows with successful second novel

Lanny is a strange and beguiling book that’s short enough to be read in a single sitting, yet sneaks into the reader’s sub-consciousness so you will find yourself thinking about it days and weeks after you’ve closed the cover

Max Porter: frequently brilliant

FICTION: Lanny, By Max Porter, Faber & Faber, €16.45

Having wowed all and sundry with his 2015 debut novel, Grief is the Thing with Feathers, which lifted a host of awards, including the International Dylan Thomas Prize, and was turned into a rapturously received stage play starring Cillian Murphy, one could forgive Bath-based Max Porter for retreating into the shadows for a while to contemplate how he was going to follow it up.