One by One in the Darkness, by Deirdre Madden (Faber & Faber, £6.99 in UK)

The everyday life of an "ordinary" Catholic family in Northern Ireland can be anything but ordinary, as this eloquent, elegiac little tale of three sisters quietly demonstrates. Cafe is a successful journalist in London; Helen an overworked solicitor in Belfast; Sally is the one who stayed at home to be a teacher and look after her mother. At the centre of the book, as you might expect, lies a violent narrative explosion. but the strength of Madden's writing lies in her refusal to sensationalise; she prefers to focus on the way the pieces of a life are carefully, sometimes doggedly put back together rather than on the force which splatters them apart.