The Lovely Bones meets The Shawshank Redemption via Judy Blume. Expect to be appalled

True to Palahniuk form, Damned is gross in parts, scandalous in others and funny throughout

Gleefully riffing on Judy Blume's 1970 coming-of-age classic Are You There God? It's Me Margaret, Palahniuk's dead heroine must traverse the infernal landscape in search of Satan - and of her true self - as she tries to discover exactly how she died

Vintage chuck - as dark as it gets

The vistas of his underworld are engrossing

The hip, flip prose skips along invoking and ridiculing pop culture

Damned is highly imaginative and downright funny, representing Chuck Palahniuk at his satirical, twisted best

A dark but funny novel about a 13-year-old girl's journey through hell

Funny and sad, Damned still sneaks in the moments of graphic obnoxiousness that have made Palahniuk into a notorious cult figure

Palahniuk certainly has a way with words. His ever-inventive, high-energy prose is a joy

Damned is vintage Chuck - as dark as it gets, but with loads of gross-out humour, all your favourite dead celebs, and plenty of grim details of the Inferno's unmentionable horrors

Very funny

An almost divine comedy that conjures up an underworld whose sinners are more likely to be guilty of sartorial, not satanic, misdemeanors

A moving meditation on the redemptive power of family and love.

The voices and structures are remarkable

Tender story

With its almost mystical exploration of love in all its forms, this is a tender portrayal of a family that proves unsinkable

Phillips's characters...are alive and intimately rendered; their warmth suffuses the novel like low-burning embers

Merivel offers a rich and satisfying sequel to the bright beginning of Restoration

More interesting than all the period decoration is the character of Merivel, a character whom the author has such deep knowledge of. Tremain’s fusion of an engrossing character and the minutiae of another time is a marvel

Tremain's control of her character and her reflective but often dramatic unfolding of events are impressive acts of authorial ventriloquism, in which she gives a nod to the great diarists of that era but carries off her own man's story with wit, grace and originality. There is only to add that, despite the linear storytelling imposed on a journal, she not only effortlessly sustains momentum and mood, but brings the novel to as near a perfect ending as one could wish

Tremain is particularly good at exploring the nuances of life for the hapless Merivel so that reader empathises with his sense of loneliness and despair. As well as exploring the sensitive side of Merivel’s character we share his intimate thoughts which are often very funny. A beautiful book

A delightful portrait of an aging man at the mercy of his own foibles and frustrations

Sequels rarely live up to their predecessors but this one comes close

A glorious book of heart-warming philosophy and heart-rending sadness

An excellent novel...thrilling reading...incredibly entertaining

Surely one of the most versatile novelists writing today

Vivid, original and always engaging

Rose Tremain writes comedy that can break your heart

Steps inside the mind of Sir Robert Merivel

For a second time this is one to cherish

A Pepysian romp of the first order

Continues in the same superior vein as Restoration… The fusion of such an engrossing character, and the minutiae of another time, remains a marvel

In this evocative and beautifully drawn novel of family and loyalty in the face of an uncertain future Tremain continues the story of a wonderfully unique character

Hugely enjoyable

Merivel’s hapless charm remains intact in this tour de force of literary technique

A sequel that looks back to the earlier novel without ever quite recapturing its spirit is the perfect form in which to evoke that feeling of having to carry on, and of trying to make yourself have fun even with it eventually begins to hurt

A marvelllously rollicking good read, and it is such a pleasure to meet Robert Merivel again. Rose Tremain brings the character to life in a way that makes you want to find out even more about the period. Enormously skilled and deft