THE OPHELIA GIRLS

Jane Healey

(Pan, £8.99)

In the summer of 1973, Ruth and her friends liked to take photographs by the river, recreating tableaux of tragic heroines like Ophelia from Pre-Raphaelite paintings. But before the summer was over they had met with tragedy. Twenty-five years later, Ruth has returned to her childhood home in Kent with a husband and three children. Her teenage daughter, Maeve, is in remission from cancer, having spent much of her childhood in hospital, and she and Ruth are drifting apart. The arrival of photographer Stuart, an old friend of her husband’s, drives an even deeper wedge between them when he persuades Maeve to pose for pictures. Exploring her sexuality, Maeve is seduced by this older man, and echoes of the past force Ruth to confront her own unresolved issues. Healey’s psychological exploration of a mother and daughter thrives on its imagery and atmosphere, evoking the languor of a heady summer and dark underlying passions.

THE GREY MEN

Ralph Hope

(Oneworld, £10.99)

The fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany brought about the end of “the most omnipresent, intrusive and ruthlessly effective secret police the world had ever seen”. The East German Stasi had one officer for every 180 citizens, not including a network of informers which, over four decades, numbered upwards of half a million. They ruined countless lives, and Ralph Hope set out to discover what happened to them after the Cold War. Protected by European privacy laws, these reclusive creatures could almost have vanished off the face of the Earth. A former FBI agent based in Eastern Europe, Hope uses his skills to track down former Stasi officers now occupying positions of power and influence, untroubled by their pasts. As well as page after page of shocking revelations, The Grey Men holds lessons for a world which possesses more powerful surveillance tools than the Stasi could have dreamed of.

DOG DAYS

Ericka Waller

(Penguin, £8.99)

If anyone still needs persuaded of the therapeutic value of dogs, Ericka Waller wants a word, as the three protagonists in her latest novel are all saved by the love of a good dog. Before she died, George’s wife, Ellen, brought home a dachshund puppy without consulting him. Now, George is too busy being grumpy and rude to care for it, but it seems that the puppy was part of Ellen’s preparations for a future without her. Shy and awkward, mental health counsellor Dan partly uses his golden labrador as a way of getting out of having a partner, but one of his clients appears to be flirting with him. Meanwhile, Lizzie, staying at a women’s shelter with her son, Lenny, reluctantly walks the shelter’s dog, Maud. Touching on weighty problems and featuring some disagreeable characters, Dog Days is a novel of great warmth which still manages to steer clear of lightweight feelgood escapism.

ALASTAIR MABBOTT