Young adult debut offers a moreish read

Young Adult Fiction; Sweetbitter, By Stephanie Danler, Oneworld Publications,€17.50

What’s not to love about a young, twentysomething heroine arriving in New York to make her fortune? Certainly, we’ve never been short of characters hoping to take Manhattan, but made dizzy by its towering skyscrapers and seamy underbellies.

The Manhattan restaurant industry in particular makes for a neat backdrop for any novel.

Debut novelist Stephanie Danler had been working as a waitress for seven ...