His is a voice which Europe cannot afford to ignore.

His observation of human nature in all its facets is wonderfully accurate.

One of Maalouf's most subtle books, and without doubt one of his most accomplished.

Sparkling and erudite, this is a wonderful novel.

A splendid book that should be read in the way one looks at a highly coloured fresco, allowing oneself to be transported by the breeze that wafts Balthasar on the most unexpected journeys.

Terrific

Indeed, if you want to understand what's going on in the world at this moment, you could certainly do worse than to read Maalouf on the past

A fine, unusual and rich book

[A] wonderful tale-its bewildered and worldly hero, facing a chaotic universe, makes this meticulously researched historical novel uniquely relevant

An intriguing picture of a great 20th-century writer . . . In its peculiar English way, it has a strange intimacy, the perverse fruit of Wodehouse's instinctive, Jeevesian, discretion.

They give real insight into the man behind Jeeves­ ­­and Wooster

Improbably beautiful

A gripping yet tender storyline that unfolds as the insurmountable obstacles are faced with bravery and loyalty. You're sure to be reaching for the tissues

A moving and disturbing tale of love and loyalty. And you might cry

A treat of a read, not least because of the wonderful, rolling ease with which Lodge writes. Or, rather, with which it reads - prose like this does not come without effort.

Sex-charged whopper on the life and works of HG Wells

Colourful characters and outrageous events abound. Confident, pacy writing keeps the reader wondering what Wells will get up to next and pondering the complex relationships to which he seems addicted

Very, very good.... So confidently are facts and flights of imaginative fancy interwoven that readers will find themselves unwilling - and unable - to distinguish between the two

Consistently absorbing and enjoyable. I doubt whether a better way could have been found to bring the phenomenon that was H. G. Wells to life

Biographical fiction is on an upswing, to judge by this lively novel, faithful to the facts but free to interpret feelings

A Man of Parts has the lovely, loquacious qualities that typify eccentric wonders such as The War of the Worlds and The History of Mr Polly. David Lodge reminds us that Wells, an imperfect man, is still a worthy witness to his own world and to those worlds that may yet to come.

Lodge understands the Edwardian literary and political scene extremely well, and traces Wells's entanglements with the louche world of Fabians and free lovers with real intimacy

As protean, elusive but compelling as it's hero, David Lodge's bio-novel about HG Wells breaks all the rules but still grips the reader - like Wells himself

A wry, racy and absorbing biographical novel

Lodge knows how to tease the inner man out from behind the historical figure, subjecting Wells to probing interviews throughout the book in which his deeper beliefs and contradictions are laid bare

This fictionalised version of HG Wells dramatises the author's life, which was full of politics, writing and women

David Lodge's HG Wells was both a visionary and a chancer; as arrogant as he was insecure; with as many noble goals as base instincts; a mass of very human contradictions; as Lodge has it, a man of parts