Five Minutes in Heaven, by Lisa Alther (Penguin, £8.99 in UK)

Where Jude comes from a small town in Virginia - they call it "graveyard love": a love that lasts until both lovers are dead and buried. Most would settle for one in a lifetime; Jude experiences three. Unfortunately for her, her partners all die first, and horribly. Lisa Alther's easy going prose makes this a much more appealing novel than its subject matter might suggest, and if the plot occasionally veers into implausibility - how does Jude manage to become an international successful book editor when she spends all her time in bed with Anna? - and her sympathetic, even lyrical, portrayal of bisexuality lifts the story way out of the ordinary.