Cereus Blooms at Night by Shani Mootoo (Granta, £6.99 in UK)

ON a tiny Caribbean island, the air thick with the scent of flowers and the drone of insects, a demented elderly woman is brought into a hospital on a stretcher. Cereus Blooms at Night opens simply, but with an unabashed sensuality which, allied to a cracking good story (encompassing everything from child abuse to a gay male nurse) and a compassionate worldview, makes of this debut novel a thing of - literally - stunning beauty. Shani Mootoo, though she lives in Trinidad, was born in Ireland: dare we claim her? Probably not, but everyone should read this painful, magical book.