A short story collection that is ostensibly about the American state of Florida – and indeed all the stories are set in “The Sunshine State” – Lauren Groff’s magnificent book is in fact a dark, meditative intermingling of the natural world and humans. In this lyrical collection, two girls are abandoned on a fishing island, a man is stuck on a canoe, a woman stays in her house through a hurricane, all stories coloured by a tinge of dystopia and pointing with elegant defiance to the delicacy of our lives.