Laura Miller, the protagonist of Booker Prize long-listed The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley, has an unfortunate tendency to become trapped in awkward, sometimes dangerous situations. Be it with her cold, bossy mother; her flaky landlord; and, most devastatingly, with a celebrity comedian who sexually abuses her. In her pared-down style, Riley captures these moments with chilling clarity. We feel what Laura feels. Add some outstanding dialogue, and you have a novel well worth reading.

Laura’s friendship with Edmund, a former literary-magazine journalist, surfaces in several chapters. A new, ambitious editor, determined to turn the magazine into ‘a London version of the New Yorker’, has squeezed the middle-aged, long-serving Edmund out. As office gossip swirls, Edmund, whose entire identity has been tied up to his role as a respected intellectual, is left floundering. Laura is left picking up the pieces.

Travelling back in time, we learn about Laura’s teenage crush on a celebrity comedian that descends into disaster, culminating in one of the most convincing and harrowing descriptions of sexual abuse I have read. Unable to confide in either her friends or her mother, Laura swallows her shame and pain.

Then there is the flat-sitting arrangement with a landlord Laura barely knows, which turns sour when he unexpectedly returns. And, as in several of Riley’s books, there is a nasty mum. Brusque and prickly, Laura’s mother arrives with her boyfriend in tow, trailing two steps behind her. Their conversation is thick with passive and not-so-passive aggression. In just nine pages, Riley conveys what a destructive mother-daughter relationship feels like.

These vignettes are the pieces of a puzzle that together form part of Laura’s life. Some are more engaging that others but those that succeed are raw and brilliant. You might recognise yourself in one or two of them. If not, you’ll certainly get a taste of what it feels like being Laura.

The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley is published by Picador, 224 pages.