Fiercely vulnerable, deeply intimate and yet authoritative, The Archaeology of Loss describes a universal experience with an unflinching and singular gaze.

Though short, it is impactful and memorable and as I read I found myself rereading and highlighting passages that particularly spoke to me.Share Elodie Harper in conversation with Jennifer Saint at Waterstones Piccadilly with your friends. Where that will lead the country – Plokhy, for the most part, wisely refrains from looking ahead – is impossible to say. I followed the principles I was taught in recovery meetings, which meant learning to sit with my feelings instead of trying to outrun them – whether into people, places or things.

It’s only the death drive, my dear, Freud would likely tell me, if I lay my body down on his carpet-covered couch.

It was from a man with a luxuriant moustache I’d been talking to online – he wore loud shirts and had an eccentric way with capital letters that made me think he’d be a good distraction. If you consider yourself a recovering alcoholic, the story you can tell yourself is one of resilience.

KG: You also get in touch with geological time – the book starts and ends at the volcanic island of Stromboli.In AA, there’s this idea of the ‘higher power’, and if you are a person who has that openness to spirituality, then being in places of natural power helps. This Ragged Grace tells the story of Octavia's journey to recovery from alcohol addiction, and the parallel story of her father's descent into Alzheimer's. Octavia takes you with her on a moving and insightful journey through her sobriety in tandem with her father's Alzheimer’s and declining health. It's wonderfully written and explores, with great success, what it means to find yourself and lose a parent, whilst being carefully interwoven with interesting and pertinent artistic, philosophical, and artistic ideas.