Jones’s representation of a love affair decaying from misunderstanding and personal breakdown is realistic and sympathetic. The inevitable destruction of Will and Emily’s relationship is slow in arriving, and their constant introspection, and the ‘his and her’ structure, becomes a little tedious, but these are minor complaints. The peripheral characters of this novel are exceptionally well drawn, often to the detriment of Will and Emily, who, despite being the narrators of the story, take too long to emerge as distinct personalities. Tash and Suella are delightfully idiosyncratic as Emily’s friends, and the enigmatic, devastatingly beautiful Katya, Will’s first love, is especially memorable. The dialogue between these characters contains some of the novel’s best writing.

Jones’s prose is generally sound and expressive, but, in what must be an attempt to illustrate Emily’s literary nature, some paragraphs are unnecessarily florid: ‘my meticulously planned menu was translated into simmering pans and delectable scents. I felt a profound sense of satisfaction in transmuting distinct and apparently contradictory ingredients into something sympathetic and delicious.’

Red Dress Walking is at its best when considering the gradations of desire, and the influence and power of physical beauty: ‘One did not “observe” beauty. Instead one was always implicated in it. It was profoundly catalytic; not just changing itself but everything around it.’

The novel took six years to write and reach publication. For all its flaws, Red Dress Walking is testament to a promising talent.