Paperback: The Beginner’s Goodbye by Anne Tyler (Vintage, £7.99)

Aaron is a tall publisher from Baltimore. He walks with a limp. He’s married to Dorothy. She’s short, and a doctor. When they hug, he says, they hit each other in the wrong places.

Maybe that should be “hugged”, because Dorothy is dead. One day, Aaron came home early from work because he had a cold. Then Dorothy got back. They had a row. Dorothy went outside and was crushed by a falling tree. But after this something strange happens.

Dorothy comes back to visit Aaron. Or perhaps to haunt him. She doesn’t seem dead to Aaron. She seems to be her usual self: that is, someone who bickers with him.

A lovely, stylish way to write a novel about a marriage.