A striking novel that pushes you dizzily into another time and place... Reading it is like being in the middle of a vibrant dream

Phillips points up the hypocrisy and humiliation of a society at breaking point; revealing it with subtlety, humour and humanity

Caryl Phillips has proved himself to be among the best and most productive writers of his generation...with Cambridge he takes a firm step towards joining the company of the literary giants of our time

This powerful, seductively readable book, set in a 19th century slave plantation, finally puts the sickening realities of the slave trade firmly on the map

Phillips is a linguistic and cultural virtuoso

A dazzling act of historical reclamation

A novel which, while aiming at popularity, respected its readership and was possessed of a decent level of craft

It is an admirable book and in its best passages is inspired and haunting

Generations of women survive, most movingly, in the wreckage left by total war

Beautifully constructed... Franck has a remarkable ability to capture the nuances of human behaviour,and her subtle depiction of Helene's growing coldness, or "blindness", and the wider blindness of a society heading for disaster, is utterly compelling

Read it and weep

With its intriguing plot and strong characterisation, Julia Franck's novel depicts beautifully both personal and historical tragedies, and gives us a compelling portrait of a remarkable woman in difficult times

A rich, affecting novel

A witch's brew of eerie power and startling novelty

A marvellous elucidation of life ... a story full of craft and full of mystery

Compulsory reading for anyone who has a pig, an aunt - or a sense of humour!

The Wodehouse wit should be registered at Police HQ as a chemical weapon

Witty and effortlessly fluid. His books are laugh-out-loud funny

The funniest writer ever to put words to paper

The greatest comic writer ever

P.G. Wodehouse wrote the best English comic novels of the century

Sublime comic genius

You don't analyse such sunlit perfection, you just bask in its warmth and splendour