Rummaging through the fruit and veg section of my local supermarket, reading the country of origin labels, I am bewildered by the geography of it all. That the fruits of the earth should all be laid out on tidy shelves in this provincial corner of Britain would have been unthinkable a few years ago, yet now it is taken for granted. Once strange and exotic fruits that only the rich could afford, if not now part of everyone’s diet, are certainly part of our everyday shopping experience. So much so that instead of focusing on the novel, I am drawn to the commonplace. Here, among the “humble” vegetables, something strange and disturbing is going on.