A desperate hunt for his daughter's mum in this weeks retros: THE RIDERS by Tim Winton, THE GREEN YEARS by A. J. Cronin, FREEZING POINT by Anders Bodelsen

Optimist Scully, 30, works in manual labour, despite his educated background, to support his attractive, ­artistic wife Jennifer and their young daughter, Billie.

When Jennifer falls in love with a derelict cottage in rural Ireland, Scully starts renovations, ably assisted by the local postman, while she and Billie fly back to Australia to sell their house.

But when Billie returns alone and mute, Scully becomes obsessed with ­finding Jennifer, dragging the child across Europe to ­former haunts. Did he ever really know his wife? And what price will he pay to track her down?

Beautifully written in 1994, this portrait of a father and daughter relationship is heartbreaking and uplifting. Soon to be a film with Brad Pitt . . .

Scottish doctor Cronin is best known for his 1937 novel The Citadel, based in a Welsh mining village, that inspired the creation of the NHS but here he returns to his Scottish roots.

After the death of his ­parents, eight-year-old Roman Catholic Robert is brought back from Dublin to live with his mother’s family in sectarian Scotland.

His grandmother is kind, his grandfather penny-pinching, but it is his womanising, hard-drinking great-grandfather with whom he ­develops a special bond over 12 years. The characterisation is rich and funny but, despite a tragedy, it is the unconventional, intergenerational love that triumphs in this ­touching tale from 1944.

Originally published in 1969, this dystopian Danish thriller feels unnervingly contemporary with its ­driverless cars, wall-sized TVs and obsession with dodging ageing and death. Magazine editor Bruno is diagnosed with terminal cancer but offered the chance to be ‘frozen down’ until a cure can be found.

He agrees, but on being ‘thawed’ in 1995, he is kept in isolation and the existential questions of what life is ‘for’ tortures him.

He is frozen down again, re-emerging in 2022 when the world is run by medical specialists who can ‘live’ ­for ever. Full of challenging ideas, this is as chilling as its title suggests.