Crudo is an immediate, sensory record of life in the post-Trump, mid-Brexit era. Laing's prose is urgent and, like a magpie, she writes and collects resources that glisten, while maintaining a sense of humour in the face of paranoia. (I was provided with a free copy of Crudo, in return for a review).

Laing perfectly encapsulates what life is like during turbulent times, her writing feels urgent and unfiltered and captures the uncertainty we live with today. We follow a week in the life Kathy, a writer navigating her forties and marriage as the world falls apart around her. The story is full of news snippets and emotions, there is an inextricable link between Kathy’s inner world the political climate of 2017. Reading this book was like walking across a crumbling pavement but having the sun shine as you fall; it was full of rage and terror and still joy managed to find its way through the cracks. Chaotic and fragmented, Laing succeeds in capturing the nerve of the age with remarkable precision.