Full of new energy and a sense of new directions... The plot has a driving ferocity, the huge and extraordinary cast marshaled with exceptional dexterity

In this concluding installment [of her quartet of novels], Byatt blends her own excitement at 'intellectual curiosity of any kind' with a lucid narrative and gripping plot... I suspect her fans will be hoping for a fifth

An intellectual adventure full of energy and vitality [with] solid delights, keen and demanding pleasure

Rich in metaphor and glancing allusion... Predominantly a novel of ideas. It makes a fine conclusion to the quartet

Brilliant and densely written...it's an absorbing read

A vast, intricate and highly readable tale of intellectual curiosity spanning the tensions between ideas and religion, science and television, anarchy and the intellectual establishment, the counterculture and academia, visionaries and madness The hothouse atmosphere of experimentation and the quest for new ways of seeing and being is tackled with questioning perception.

A historical fantasy perfect for those who love ancient stories and tradition

A trip through the American wasteland - from the people who have too little, to the people who have too much. Incredibly smart, incredibly funny, incredibly tragic, and therefore incredibly human, this is the perfect novel for these dysfunctional times

A novel reflecting with perfect comedy and horrible tragedy exactly what America feels like right this minute. I barked with laughter, at the same time as wincing in pain. Shteyngart has held up a mirror to American culture that is so accurate and so devastating... Stupendous

Lake Success is a genial and warm-hearted book...a virtuoso piece of work, full of brilliant noticings...an unhysterical novel about a hysterical country at a hysterical time - the work of a novelist who believes in the power of fiction to illuminate out shared world.

Shteyngart does slapstick as well as ever, but he stakes out new terrain in the expert way he develops his characters' pathos.... A stylish, big-hearted novel. Shteyngart made his name as a sharp satirist, and he'll undoubtedly widen his appeal with this effort

The satirical layering is masterful. Dark - so dark - yet delicious.

Lake Success is undeniably enjoyable, rattling along with good jokes and sharp set pieces, and shot through with Shteyngart's good-natured melancholy.

Referencing classic novels like The Great Gatsby and On the Road, Shteyngart whips up a novel that's part-satire and part-comedy of manners, humanising the super-rich while casting a critical eye over their world. It's funny, cutting, but above all compassionate

Shteyngart's comic energy is well deployed on the ridiculously rich, especially amid Trump's campaign and his election by, perhaps, many Greyhound riders.

A considered debut which grapples with themes of pain and memory ... though the premise sounds dark, the novel's light and accessible voice provides a refreshing take on council estate life.

This won't disappoint

A great thing to read

A resonant, insightful look at the way the truths of the past can challenge the promise of the future

The novel centres on 18-year-old Ravine, bedridden since a traumatic incident involving her best friend on a Leicester council estate ... There is a freshness to the writing

A moving tale

Simultaneously fabulous and tragic, Swan Song is an incredibly accomplished debut

Our generation’s The Secret History

Triumphant debut…remarkable

A vivid debut … based on ten years of research, this is a dazzling read that’s been worth the wait

Stunning... It’s probably one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever owned

Hypnotically fascinating

The book is dripping with atmosphere and character and is such a pleasure to read.

Pure pleasure

She deftly gives us an insight into their inner lives... while creating defined personalities that resonate and intrigue. Lyrical and fascinating, the fact that this is Greenberg-Jephcott's debut is astounding.

A stunning debut novel that seamlessly blends history, fact and fiction in this imaginative re-telling of the life of novelist Truman Capote

A brilliant first novel

A slick debut pulled off with brio, Swan Song is glamorous, vivid and sometimes even daring in its intelligence

A dazzling read

Greenberg-Jephcott’s debut is fizzing with energy and ideas…The novel has style and substance in spades.

With a grounding in history, it is a fascinating read about the deepest secrets of an iconic author.

Intoxicating

Swan Song is utterly divine.It swept me up and I just couldn't put it down ... it is the writing in this debut novel that astounds most of all. It is vivid, addictive and whips up a terrific portrait of a deeply contradictory and complex man, contrasting scenes from his unorthodox childhood with those from the gilded bubble he ended up in that he lanced through his own actions.

A sumptuous look at the icons of Manhattan's high society scene in the mid-20th century ... An immersive readthat will have you questioning real histories versus the ones we create for ourselves.

He offers the reader a masterful study of a mind devoted to fairness… The Children Act is also a fascinating, painstakingly researched look inside the judicial process… Conveyed in crisp prose, this attention to detail elevates the moral conundrums…beyond the sensationalism lesser authors might have pursued. It is, in all respects, a novel that is carefully judged.

It explores the tension between cool-headed secularism and ardent belief. It is at times preposterous – and yet it has a magical readability and is slender enough to read in one intense, absorbing sitting.

In typical McEwan style, The Children Act is unputdownable and hauntingly beautiful.

The Children Act is a…sophisticated exploration of how society treats children and how children’s welfare can be considered in the complex world in which we live, where issues about how children should be raised are not subject to consensus.

If you have any unanswered letters on your desk, McEwan’s latest will have you grabbing your pen pronto.

The Children Act shows McEwan as a master of fiction who strives to teach us how to live.

Powerful and moving.

Taut, sparing and effortless, this is another exquisitely wrought novel from the master of the novella.

A subtly musical arrangement of urgently topical issues…it may be read at a sitting, but resonates for much longer.

It’s absorbing and, almost a novella, it doesn’t outstay its welcome.

Definitely one of the best books I have read this year.

This is a wonderful read with sharp, crystalline prose and, together with a superb moral dilemma, this is a beautiful and moving story.

Offering a window into a compelling world of life or death dilemmas, this is told in prose as polished as you’d expect.

The book is bursting of beautiful writing. You’ll want to read it all over again.

A story of human behavior told in a raw, uncluttered, unforgiving way.

Renowned author McEwan manages to surprise throughout this book, right to the last page.

A story of human behavior told in a raw, uncluttered, unforgiving way – and we could all have done with another couple of hundred pages.

McEwan writes in taut, sparing and effortless prose.

Ian McEwan writes stories of exquisite precision and clarity. This one is ace.

A page-turning novel

As one has come to expect, McEwan sets up the moral issues with delicacy and precision.

Ian McEwan is at his most compelling with the story of Fiona Maye… Awesome

A wonderfully readable and thought-provoking book

A short novel that will linger in your mind for a long time

Another beautifully written masterpiece

relevant, emotive, moving, this is beautifully written and a guaranteed page turner

One of our best authors at his best.

One of my favourite authors… McEwan’s fascination with judicial issues, with music and poetry, and with the moral conundrum of how far you place your religious beliefs above the life of someone you love, all feature in this book which will leave you thinking long after you have finished it.

It's an enjoyable and often surprising novella.

It asks fundamental questions in a sober, intelligent way about the choices we make and our blindness when it comes to our beliefs.

Here he is again: vulnerable, insightful, passionate and utterly in control. He’s amazing.