4.5 rounded down

Rest and Be Thankful has a similar vibe to Glass's 2018 debut Peach - visceral, dark, poetic and experimental - but I'd venture that it's more accessible and hopeful than its predecessor, while still maintaining that slightly unnerving edge that worked so well in Peach and sets Glass's writing apart.

The protagonist, Laura, is a nurse in a paediatric unit. Laura is permanently exhausted, unhappy in her relationship and has dark, vivid dreams (when she does finally get some sleep). We follow her in her job on the ward where she is confronted daily by the impermanence and fragility of life in the children she looks after; in her dreams where she gets no respite from reality and in her short hours awake at home with her unpleasant boyfriend.

Glass says a hell of a lot in few pages, and her writing is something special - this made for utterly compelling reading and I can't wait for her next offering.