Adam Thorpe is brilliant. Utterly brilliant. I use the word advisedly, OED advisedly, the best a man can get... the book moved me so much that the denouement made me cry... Thorpe, I believe, may be so ambitious, so brilliant, he's actually trying to rewrite Flaubert

Magnificent... A deftly plotted love story, full of startling disclosures, the novel draws one in irresistibly... Adam Thorpe is a marvel among contemporary British novelists, and we are lucky to have him

This is recognisably a poet's book, stuffed with small luminous details and off-kilter observations and permanently alert to the strange texture of things...a hugely enjoyable book by a writer at the top of his game who's demonstrably still having great fun doing what he does. Long may that continue

Brilliant... It is a rich book: sensuous, thoughtful and sad

Thorpe demonstrates the foresight and guile of the seasoned storyteller, coupled with a poet's ability to knock the language for six... Between Each Breath is funny, well-observed and thought-provoking

In moments of intense action, we're with this protagonist every inch of the way, through every thought, dive, ache, smell, itch, tast and gastric movement... vertiginously thrilling

Ascent is a page turning story of a man's ambition to be the very best. Based on real events and using real people, it places this fictitious character in a period when space itself was there for the taking. Beautifully written, it's a book that deserves to be read

A cross between adventure story and literary fiction, this is an unusual novel

Streaks by at full throttle... truly exciting

Speaks volumes about heroism and the human condition... A taut, page-turning narrative

Ingenious