Addition, by Toni Jordan

Addition is a story written from the point of view of Grace, a woman with obsessive compulsive disorder. She marks her days by numbers - the number of steps from her home to her local cafe, the number of poppyseeds in the cake she orders everyday, which then determines the number of bites she takes to eat it. The orderliness of her everyday is broken when, at the supermarket, she discovers she has accidentally picked up nine bananas, not ten - a tragedy in her world. So she steals a banana from the basket of the man behind her at the checkout, which brings his world into collision with hers. The victim of the theft, Seamus, turns out to be a lovely (in fact slightly too perfect) man who unstintingly accepts her for who she is.

Addition was a little disappointing because the reviews were so positive, and the angle so promising. Apart from the charming beginning when she meets Seamus, the rest of the novel is a bit... light on. Grace is not particularly likeable - just because she has a disorder doesn't make her arrogance any more attractive. In her sexual encounters, her unfolding relationship with Seamus and her conversations (so sparklingly witty), one can't help but feel that the author is screaming, 'See, she's normal, just like you!!'

It's a quick read and not a bad one, but not particularly good either.