[A] brilliant, tender book… An extraordinary work of love and art, which left me choked with tears.

A moving memoir as well as a historical study of epilepsy… With verve and sensitivity, Grant tells the stories of individual sufferers.

Grant’s exploration of the literary, political, medical and scientific history of epilepsy is hugely compelling; his telling of the story of two brothers transcends the book’s twin genres and leaves us with a wry, gentle masterpiece.

A fascinating personal and historical account. *****

A flawless amalgam of personal memoir, mind science and medical history.

In writing A Smell of Burning… Grant may yet save more lives as a writer than he did as a doctor.

As a memoir of Christopher’s trajectory of illness it is tenderly expressed, and the book is a poignant evocation of grief and regret.

He brings a core of expert knowledge and skill as a communicator to the story… [An] absorbing and sometimes horrifying tale.

At its best is like the works of other medics-turned-authors Atul Gawande and Henry Marsh.

[Grant] helps us gain an eminently accessible insight into a world that…is still shrouded in mystery. It is a touching tale of brotherly love.

[A] moving memoir.

An enthralling and eclectic account.

A readable and informative book that should help to lay to rest some of the many misconceptions about the condition.

A brilliant evocation of a young man’s difficult relationship with a stigmatized disease.

A scholarly yet highly readable account of the history of – as well as current thinking on – epilepsy.

Thanks to A Smell of Burning we are encouraged to put into question our own perceptions of what constitutes balance and harmony, in our brains, our minds, and the world around us.

An informative book that will hopefully encourage readers to show more empathy.

Fascinating, moving and deeply personal.

Written by a former medic whose younger brother was an epileptic, this is a superb personal and historical account of the effect the condition has on the lives of sufferers and those around them

This is a sharply poignant and sad memoir. It’s also a brilliant historical and medical analysis.

This book is a brutal confrontation with reality… The plot twist in the book’s final pages is genuinely shocking… But with it the book is elevated to a brilliant and deeply moving level. Finally, this is a compelling exploration of the utter devastation of institutional abuse.

Smile is an undoubtedly fine novel, displaying Doyle’s famed mastery of dialogue and ventriloquist-like ability to assume the identities of his characters… The novel’s strength lies in Doyle’s precise yet impressionistic evocation of the workings of memory and trauma. Childhood trauma is rendered in a manner that is at once harshly exact and vexingly evasive… Doyle’s prose is both impeccable and confounding, leading the reader into folly as much as clarification… A timely and stunningly poignant novel wrought with great wit and pathos.

This is an unsettling and ultimately bleak examination of institutionalised abuse in Ireland, a subject which offers very little to smile about.

Achingly sad and ruefully perceptive, exquisitely balancing anger with sympathy.

With a queasily gripping, insidiously sad narrative, and an ending that completely rewires everything you thought you knew, Doyle delivers through the paralysed character of Victor a devastating verdict on present-day Ireland, still imprisoned by an ugly past.

There’s a moment right at the start of Roddy Doyle’s new book, Smile, that will make you shiver – dark undercurrents under a banal exterior… More experimental in form, and with less humour than you might expect from Doyle, Smile is the 59-year-old author’s attempt to shake us out of complacency… For my part, the book’s triumph rests on Doyle’s ability to reflect how Victor’s experience of abuse has unmoored him from the people around him.

In a sharply observed novel, Doyle explores memory, relationships and sanity.

Smile has all the features for which Roddy Doyle has become famous: the razor-sharp dialogue, the humour and the superb evocation of childhood – but this is a novel unlike any he has written before.

The final pages of the novel are shocking, and they turn everything preceding it on its head. It’s testament to the power of Doyle’s writing that the ending is deeply moving, and so very sad.

One that stuck with me for a long, long time after I had finished it… This is one of my favourite books of the year so far. How the story ultimately plays out left me satisfied, cold and off-balance. A rare thing.

A surprise. It’s unsettling and evocative, but not what you’d expect from the beloved author… The wit and sharp dialogue are classic Doyle, but the dark, unexpected ending will linger long in the mind. A brilliant read.

Who writes the lives, hopes, dreams, sorrows and failures of ordinary people with greater insight, empathy and humanity than Roddy Doyle?... It’s as profound, funny, sad and shocking as anything Roddy has ever written.

So cleverly written we are caught up in the narrative and the final reveal is deeply disturbing. Doyle has again proved himself an author who can create the sense of time and place that takes the reader into the backstreet bars of Dublin and shows the dangerous undertow of life in Ireland.

This is a performance few writers could carry off: a novel constructed entirely from bar stool chatter and scraps of memory. But you can’t turn away. It’s like watching a building collapse in slow motion… Doyle has perfected a narrative technique that’s elliptical without feeling coy.

[Doyle] experiments with time, adding an edgy dream-like quality to the writing… There is no shortage of the author’s trademark dialogue where the men chat about their favourite topics, basically pilfering of Doyle’s own Two Pints Facebook wheeze… Smile is a precise perceptive study of male vulnerability and quietly portrays the stunted life of a lonely, damaged man.

It’s a captivating story that has all the features his readers love him for: razor-sharp dialogue, humour and warm evocations.

In contrast to the manic colloquial energy of Doyle’s early work, this novel, his eleventh, feels moody and spare – a meditation on how wisdom wounds.

An unforgettable journey into Ireland’s darkest past.

A welcome return to form by the master of bittersweet black comedy, dialogue and drama… A profoundly moving, occasionally disturbing and important read.

A profound examination of the stories we tell other people – and ourselves.

Fans of Doyle's previous bestsellers, including The Commitments and Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, will not be disappointed.

Doyle captures the febrile atmosphere of being at school perfectly

A raw, powerful and compelling story

Understated, unhurried and emotionally devastating.

By far the best novel I’ve read this year.

A tragicomic gem with rare emotional power.

With great tenderness and insight, MacLaverty peeled back a marriage creaking under the weight of longevity, drink and violence. Brilliantly crafted.

A beautifully written, perfectly poised novel... Exquisite.

Arguably [Bernard MacLaverty's] masterpiece.

From the first sentences of Midwinter Break you know you're in the hands of a master… [A] gentle, life-affirming novel, MacLaverty reminds us of the quiet poetry that surfaces when we stop and simply look