A dark and brutal debut. Donnybrook is a bellow of rage from the American heartland, and Bill is the new bard of the disaffected rural underclass.

Raw desperation and powerful prose pack a knockout punch in Donnybrook. Frank Bill’s novel is a winner.

The prose is vivid and visceral, especially the fight scenes. Bill manages to accurately portray intricate movements and action without losing pace. These set pieces are often imaginative, original and horrific... There’s a definite cinematic quality to the whole narrative.

A breathless, enthralling read

Donnybrook is as subtle as a 12-gauge shotgun blast to the face…[A] coruscating new voice writing in the American rural noir tradition of Daniel Woodrell and Donald Ray Pollock.

[A] gritty, gory book. As with Tarantino’s movies, there is something earnest, deliberate, in the way Bill goes about flouting the conventions of liberal good taste. Contemporary fiction needs some bare-knuckles boxing to liven things up from time to time.

You feel every broken bone and tooth and smell the blood spattered on the canvas – and you won’t forget it in a hurry

Breathes vibrant life into Henry VIII's most intriguing, intelligent and least known wife, Katherine Parr

A major new voice in historical fiction

Wildly entertaining . . . One of the best historical novels I've read

Gripping… Owen has constructed a fantasy world with clear rules and solid foundations, and from these she flies. There's a sense of joy in the writing, and it's infectious.

You'll love The Quick… At times unnerving, at times truly terrifying, The Quick is definitely some of the best gothic fiction we've read in months.

Lauren Owen has conjured up a sumptuous, supernatural feast that slowly takes hold and leaves you wanting more and more as every page turns… Very hard to put down.

Some of the most convincing, witty and assured writing I've been lucky enough to read in ages… Lauren Owen is a ridiculously strong talent and I for one can't wait to see what she does next.

Bury your head in atmospheric literary Victoriana.

Full of suspense.

The book’s energy, its wide reach and rich detail make it a confident example of the “unputdownable” novel.

Atmospheric… Sinister.

What a debut!

Huge, weird, wonderful and quite scary, too.

A bold debut.

Brilliantly nauseating.

A sumptuous, supernatural feast... Leaves you wanting more and more as every page turns.

A new world of adventure, romance and delicious horror.

A calm, elegantly observed love story … followed by something altogether more gothic and full-blooded.

Camp, quirky and fun.

An intriguing blend of historical and supernatural fiction.

Owen has smoothly crafted an excellent Gothic tale out of some supposedly exhausted sources of inspiration… The plot is superbly managed, as are the suspenseful changes of perspective

A ripping yarn written with depth and verve

Clever and stylish… Sophisticated

A staggering achievement of a debut… A fantastically atmospheric, engaging, immersive experience

Energetically mixing history and gothic fantasy, this is a macabre, readable and atmospheric novel

It’s all deliciously creepy, and the richly textured depiction of Victorian London is impressively done. The conclusion has you thirsting for more

Brooding and densely plotted, it is ambitious in its scope, but certainly delivers a sleek, well-crafted thriller, ideal for fans of the genre

Rich in detail, rich in style (and quite scary)

Intelligent, and also enormous fun

She manages the rare task of creating a work whose plot, character and tone are all fully developed and work in service of each other… This is a truly great novel. While it has received glowing reviews it is a great shame that it is not more widely known by the general public. I urge you all to pick it up.

Gobsmacking – and terrifying – debut… The story crackles along and its creepy, menacing characters are ideal for haunting your imagination… Don’t pick it up if you like talking to your family during the holidays, as you’ll ignore them until you’ve finished this.