Extraordinary... In my world, this novel is already a classic

A powerful exploration of memory and guilt

A work of immense incantatory power

Astonishingly powerful ... Diary of a Fall may well emerge as one of the finest novels published in English this year

A gripping, thoughtful novel... Laub beautifully retrieves the tragedy of the holocaust from its scholarship, politics and deniers, cutting to the bone of human life, its longings and limitations

[A] powerful and nuanced novel… Elegantly translated… It is both timely and gratifying to see one of the country’s outstanding writers come to the attention of an English-language readership

This riveting read challenges how we choose to tell others our life story and how events make us into the people we are. A top, quick read

I have already found a contender for my book of 2014

Robustly delicate… This is the Brazilian author’s fifth novel, and the first to be translated into English. Let’s hope for more to follow

A powerful novel

Utterly convincing... An original and thought-provoking exploration of the way history casts its ripples through generations

The novel succeeds in talking about the horror of horrors because of the illuminating prism through which it is rendered, and because of its compassion, intelligence and respect

[A] remarkable novel

A fine, complex piece of writing

Laub has crafted a book not only about the power of memory but also about moving on from suffering and taking responsibility for our own actions, and for the people we become

Laub is trying to create both an incantatory effect and gradually excavate the past; he succeeds brilliantly… A gripping, thoughtful novel, fluidly translated… Laub beautifully retrieves the tragedy of the holocaust from its scholarship, politics and deniers, cutting to the bone of human life, its longings and limitations.

Albert has made a novel that approaches depression and maternal anxiety with candid honesty, transforming writing on motherhood forever

A hilarious, honest, and eye-opening book, this is a must have for any new mum or mum-to-be

Funny and heartfelt

Ms. Moran['s] ... funny and cheerfully dirty coming-of-age novel has a hard kernel of class awareness ... sloppy, big-hearted and alive in all the right ways.

there’s so much real feeling too. Johanna’s vulnerability and bravado, as she moves out of her world and falls in love is beautifully done’ or ‘ and running through it all, with a visceral power that most writers should envy, is the shame and grinding anxiety of being poor

Moran also writes brilliantly about music, and especially about what music can do. She carries Johanna through this novel with incredible verve, extravagant candour, and a lot of heart. Johanna is … a wonderful heroine. A heroine who cares, who bravely sallies forth and makes things happen, who gives of herself, who is refreshingly unashamed. She’s so confident, it’s glorious

an entertaining read, with Moran in fine voice – hilarious, wild, imaginative and highly valuable…Moran is in danger of becoming to female masturbation what Keats was to Nightingales…

rude, big-hearted, wise-cracking novel…so filthy she’ll make you blush

This is going to be a bestseller…A sharp, hilarious and controversial read

Ali Smith is a master of language. Vigorous, vivid writing that is Ali Smith incarnate

Ingeniously conceived, gloriously inventive

Dizzyingly ambitious . . . endlessly artful, creating work that feels infinite in its scope and intimate at the same time. [A] swirling panoramic

Brilliant . . . the sort of death-defying storytelling acrobatics that don't seem entirely possible

Having read this now twice, in both directions so to speak, I've decided - and I do not write this flippantly - that Ali Smith is a genius

Approaches the world as only a novel can. The book moves not so much in a straight line as in a twisting helix pattern . . . delivers the heat of life and the return of beauty in the face of loss

A unique conversation between past and present

Wildly inventive . . . lyrical, fresh