Romy Ash’s second novel Mantle is ‘disturbing as science and exhilarating as art’. Composite: Guardian Design/Lauren Bamford/Ultimo Press Romy Ash’s debut novel, Floundering, has sat on my bookshelf since the Sydney Morning Herald, where I worked as literary editor, named her as one of the best young Australian novelists in 2013 – the year she was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin literary award among others.