A work of glorious intelligence and literary devices...Nonsense becomes a form of higher sense"

Alice in Wonderland is one of the top 25 books of all time. I always loved the book and I always loved the various characters, the psychedelic nature of it and kind-of odd allegorical stories inside stories. I always thought it was beautiful

Wonderland and the world through the Looking Glass were, I always knew, different from other imagined worlds. Nothing could be changed, although things in the story were always changing...Carroll moves his readers as he moves chess pieces and playing cards

It would not have occurred to me even to suspect that the "children's tale" was in brilliant ways coded to be read by adults and was in fact an English classic, a universally acclaimed intellectual tour de force and what might be described as a psychological/anthropological dissection of Victorian England. It seems not to have occurred to me that the child- Alice of drawing rooms, servants, tea and crumpets and chess, was of a distinctly different background than my own. I must have been the ideal reader: credulous, unjudging, eager, thrilled. I knew only that I believed in Alice, absolutely."

The Alices are the greatest nonsense ever written, and far greater, in my view, than most sense

Jonathan packs an entire life - many lives - into this fine book, and does so with the empathy and insight of a writer at the top of his game.

Insightful, richly entertaining … Evison writes humanely and with good humour of his characters, who like the rest of us, muddle through too often without giving ourselves much of a break. A lovely, forgiving character study that’s a pleasure to read.

An intelligent and moving examination of the traumas of war. Faulks is as accomplished as ever

It’s a melancholy tale of war, love and loss that will leave you gulping back sobs

Faulks gets better and better with every book. This is surely one of the year’s best novels.

Faulks writes in the grand tradition of realist fiction…Fans of Faulks — and they are legion — will find a great deal to admire and ponder and sorrow at within these pages. Its aspirations are sincere and noble

An elegant, thoughtful novel

One of his most haunting novels

What makes this such an engaging, enjoyable book to read is the depth of the ideas that Faulks explores… As usual, Faulks’ historical research creates a wholly compelling world. Every detail, from glum 1980s New York to the chaos of wartime Belgium, feels fresh and convincing and the characterisation is impeccable

a deeply affecting portrait

It could well be Faulks' magnum opus

expect a passionate story of love lost, delivered by a master storyteller

Deeply philosophical…full of real heart

You’re instantly hooked. There’s a touch of Graham Greene here. The story takes off beautifully.

Faulks, always good, describes the transaction between shrink and sex worker and you’re hooked. A touch of Graham Greene here.

Daring, ambitious and in the end profoundly moving, this is Faulk’s most remarkable book yet.

Baume’s prose has an energy and cadence all of her own: utterly unsentimental, but in its open-hearted, sidelong engagement with the mercurial One Eye and the changing seasons strangely joyous.

Heart-breaking debut from new major talent Sara Baume.

[A] joltingly original debut … Baume charts the growing dependency between these two stray souls with remarkable deftness and almost unbearable poignancy.

Baume’s writing is poetic, delicate and inventive … and despite the undertow of humour, there’s not one whiff of sentimentality – you’re left with the sadness and chronic fearfulness of the truly lonely

[A] skilful debut … lyrical and impressive.

An extraordinarily fresh style …this is an atmospheric novel …Baume is undoubtedly an exceptional new talent.

Ambitious.

There is a lovely, lilting cadence to the novel… Stylishly done…. Winterson manages against the odds to keep us gripped.

Winterson is on sparkling form in this highly intelligent and daringly imaginative reworking of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale... Witty, clever and bold.

Winterson is incapable of being dull, and The Gap Of Time is a fitting addition to her uniquely inventive catalogue.

She deftly captures all the magic and raw emotion of the original.