"In this unappealing but compelling book, Hjorth proves brilliant at revealing the stubborn, unredemptive quality of childhood suffering...."

"the novel feels like a loose, even rambling anthology of his familiar concerns — where the only real surprise is that Islam and hippies are spared their usual kicking..."

"the novel eventually delivers powerful drama that strips away the gray of moral relativism and lets its heroes shine through..."

"As late-career gambles go, it’s a bold one. Yet one senses O’Brien felt the story was simply too urgent not to put her gifts in its service..."

"Barry is such a deft and generous writer that he gets the honey-to-acid blend almost exactly right..."

"The Institute sits alone in the woods. But it’s symptomatic of a wider malaise..."

"a novel that movingly examines hidden depths beneath quiet exteriors...."

"Meek brilliantly creates a variety of voices, and a language appropriate to the 14th century,..."

"an enjoyably overwrought exercise in dark melodrama...."

"an unusual, stimulating variant on the standard spy thriller..."

"This genealogical dig is grand in scope and spilling with secrets..."

"Time, tide, and the sacred in the everyday – 50 years in the Big Apple..."

"The colourful cast includes a pair of dysfunctional detectives (one of whom just happens to have a thing about skyscrapers), a bibulous newspaper columnist and the widowed mayor’s browbeaten son...."

"A curious historical experiment from 1797 to get a man to live alone underground for seven years is spun out into a novel..."

"a techie thriller about the kindness and cruelty of strangers..."

"Jessie Burton explores the propensity to label women’s writing as ‘autofiction’ and the dangers of such categorisation..."

"Finely written and thoughtfully devised, [it's] a disquieting and unsettling read about the balance of power, cruelty and compassion..."

"The Israeli writer’s whimsy often conceals gut-wrenching wisdom, while heartache comes laced with hilarity..."

"Niall Williams’s novel delivers us back into a world with fewer problems than modern age..."

"a wonderful Gothic confection that sticks in the mind long after the last page is turned..."

"Warwick is engaging and highly principled, refusing fast promotion to learn on the beat..."

"The characterisation is great and the atmosphere powerful...."