The Museum of Cathy

Guardian Fiction: Book of the Day From the author of the Orange Prize long-listed, The Pink Hotel Cathy is a young woman who escapes her feral childhood in a rundown chalet on the East coast of England to become a curator of natural history in Berlin. Although seemingly liberated from her destructive past, she commemorates her most significant memories and love affairs - one savage, one innocent, one full of potential - in a collection of objects that form a bizarre museum of her life. When an old lover turns up at a masked party at Berlin's natural history museum and events take a terrifying turn, Cathy must confront their shared secrets in order to protect her future. This is an exquisitely crafted, rare and original work.

Anna is the author of The Pink Hotel, long-listed for the Orange Prize 2012. Set in Los Angeles following a young girl's investigation into the love affairs of her dead mother, it is being made into a film directed by academy award winner Anna Paquin. 'An elegant noirish mystery,' said The Independent. 'Completely engrossing,' said Nylon Magazine. 'Astonishingly good,' said The Times. She has lived in Berlin, Los Angeles and Beijing. She writes about travel for The Observer Magazine, and can currently be found investigating natural history museums for her new novel.