'Wayne Johnston is Canada's Roddy Doyle'

'An absolute stunner...Achingly funny, needle sharp and packing an unexpected wallop...The literary equivalent of a small-budget movie masterpiece with heart, soul and brains'

'Wonderful...Wayne Johnston is one of the most entertaining writers in Canada, endlessly inventive, with a marvellous sense of pacing'

This supremely entertaining book is guaranteed to make you laugh

Tom Sharpe makes me laugh loud and long ... He offers so much to delight in

He has not written a better or more skilful farce

Britain's leading practitioner of black humour

Sharpe is the funniest novelist currently writing ... I sat curled up with laughter

Alexi Zentner has created a seminal poetic story that resonates in our collective memory of timber, minerals and snow; of ghosts and gods and death; but above all, reminds us of the faith and love and optimism necessary for survival.

Touch is one of those rare novels that simultaneously takes hold of both your imagination and your heart and does not let go. In sharp, startling prose, Alexi Zenter seamlessly weaves the story of Sawgamet and its inhabitants, creating a world of myth and magic, hard truths, aching loss, and spectacular triumphs. It's a gem of a book.

A fantastic story set on the margins of the northern forest, Touch explores the mystery that connects the heart of the wild with human passion. This is a tale of extremes, both marvellous and magical...in the midst of brothels, prospectors, lumberjacks, ghosts, obliterating snowstorms and devastating fires, Zentner strings memory in grave rhythmns, making the sound of love. A beautiful first novel.

Calling up both the brutal conditions...and the tough men who wrestled with them, Zentner tells a lyrical tale conveying both the beauty and the danger of the wilderness.

Alexi Zentner's debut novel is poised to be one of those books that gets people talking... The story is slippery and complex, but told with seemingly effortless ease. Touch is indeed a gem of a book.

Zentner excels in evoking the place and details of domestic life

Touch is Zenter's first novel. It is an enchanting phantasmagoria of the imagination as well as a practical tale of the human lust for gold and the human struggle with implacable nature. All in all, a deeply satisfying read

Truly magical

An affecting debut from a major new talent.

In this sweeping family saga, Zentner delves into the heart of myth and memory. Eerie and beautiful, Touch is a love-song to the power - and brevity - of dreams.