"I have invented her in this book, which is dangerous. If she isn't satisfied with the flesh I found for her, I know I'll hear." So writes Michael Pye of Gretje Reyniers, the main protagonist of The Drowning Room (Granta, £13.99 in UK). Mystic medium or masterful weaver of imagery, Pye intricately fashions upon his spindle a potent tale to clothe the historical bones of Gretje, town whore to the Dutch settlement of Manhattan in the mid-17th century.

The Drowning Room reads as a powerful incantation to a spirit that sifts through the mind, stirs the soul and transfigures our perceptions of humanity, anger and immorality. It testifies to an incredible human experience where the need to love and to be loved precipitates a basic and instinctual resolve to survive. Like Mr Pye, I too am haunted by Gretje Reyniers.