Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, is nominated in the Costa first novel category, and has been heralded as one of the best debuts of recent times. Set in Glasgow, its oddball narrator, Eleanor, lives alone, works in an office where she is largely ignored, and spends her weekends working her way through two bottles of vodka – in other words, she is definitely not fine.

As the novel unravels, the prickly Eleanor becomes increasingly appealing, and we begin to gather clues about the trauma in her past that has caused her isolated and lonely existence.

Eleanor’s detachment from those around her, and her observations about them, can be humorous, but also cringe-worthy – while Raymond, a colleague who gradually befriends her, is consistently thoughtful, she misunderstands social convention, and is frequently rude in return.

On their first visit to a pub, she insists on buying the drinks so that she can “observe what happens on the inside of a public house,” but then calls to him as he leaves: “The Guinness, Raymond. It was three pounds fifty…there’s no rush. You can give it to me on Monday if that’s easier.”

Though the pace of the story is initially slow, and the humour not to every taste, there is plenty of lightness and kindness to offset the darker themes.

What is really compelling is how plausible the outwardly snooty Eleanor and her situation are – we might not identify with everything in her life, but the detail of her loneliness is uncomfortably familiar, and speaks to a universal fear of ending up the same way.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman (HarperCollins, £12.99)