A teenage girl is in the passenger seat; the driver is an older man. As they criss-cross America, destined for who knows where, she watches him and wants…what he is, what he has. She sees the black looks and knowing smiles they attract but believes they are safe in their small, charmed world of backroads, motels and diners.

Her companion knows the road does not go on forever.

The Ice Age is a brilliant new take on the road novel. It evokes Kerouac and Nabokov in equal measure, describing an irresistible arc through the shining, translucent moment at the end of childhood. Earthy, lyrical, laced with sly humour and sharp observation, Kirsten Reed’s superb debut presents a young protagonist to fear and rejoice for—and a young writer to watch closely.

Read Jo Case's interview with Kirsten Reed about The Ice Age