Jennifer Down's first novel, Our Magic Hour, is notable for its stylistic individuality. The novel's opening is disorientating at first: Audrey wears a shirt whose 'sleeves swallowed her hands'; spaghetti bolognese 'spatters' on a stove; a football match 'bellows' from a television. This is an object-rich terrain, in which the details provide cues to interpreting the fictional world.
Audrey, Katy, and Adam were friends in high school – their bond was close, even claustrophobic: they shared beds and their conversations were frank, at times needful. As the narrative begins, Katy has taken her own life, and Audrey and Adam are grieving. When Audrey receives the news, Katy's coat is still draped over a chair in Audrey's kitchen, 'an exoskeleton left behind'. Audrey's mostly happy relationship with Nick is fraying; Adam keeps 'getting scared of everything'.