The Last Sane Woman

In poet Regel’s alluring debut novel (after the collection Oliver Reed) a London art school graduate takes a job at a feminist archive and stumbles on a mystery buried in the collection. Nicola Long is captivated by the letters of ceramicist Donna Dreeman, who compulsively wrote to her friend Susan Baddeley with accounts of lovers and minor scandals in the 1970s and ’80s. Nicola is also struck by the similarities between Donna and herself—they’re both potters and were born near the same place in Nottingham. The letters allude to “something very close to dread,” and Nicola’s librarian boss, Marcella, tells her Donna died many years ago by suicide. After Nicola tracks down the secretive Susan, with whom Donna was plainly obsessed, she pores over the archive in search of clues about the roots of Donna’s malaise and the true nature of Donna and Susan’s relationship. Regel evokes her protagonist’s thrumming self-recognition as she reads the letters (“This was exactly how she felt. The thrill pulled a thread across her chest; Nicola wasn’t just overhearing, she was being overheard!”). The result is a distinctive story of female friendship. Agent: Harriet Moore, David Higham Assoc. (July)