Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller review – a justly lauded debut

Claire Fuller’s painterly use of language and poignant portrayal of the passage of time make for a refreshing, thought-provoking read

“There are things that drift away like our endless numbered days.” So goes the song lyric that lends this sensuous debut novel its title, from the album of the same name by the American singer-songwriter Sam Beam, aka Iron & Wine, who was the author’s writing soundtrack.

Time does indeed seem to drift for eight-year-old narrator, Peggy, who is kidnapped by her survivalist father, James, and taken to live in a remote cabin in a German forest where James stops keeping a calendar, insisting: “We’re not going to live by somebody else’s rules of hours and minutes any more.” He also writes his own rules for reality, telling his daughter that they are the last humans alive. Wrenched out of the familiar, Peggy feels “suddenly, desperately homesick”.

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