Fresh, funny and wise, balancing emotional turmoil with a vivid turn of phrase

Funny, sad, unputdownable - an absolute tour de force

An elegant, funny and moving first novel... a wonderful, memorable musing on life, fate and love

A deeply affecting story ... Rooney confidently moves between two narrators and shifting times, vividly recreating Blitz-torn London and the Africa of the same period

This heartfelt debut novel offers a witty twist on a WWII romance

Packed full of warm, spirited prose that captures the mood of doodlebug London, this is a total joy of a debut novel

Wonderful debut novel ... Guaranteed to sweep you away

It is funny, deceptively ambitious, robustly detailed and extremely sad

Add this to your list', 'this vivid story of lost love is tender, funny and hugely entertaining

A work of a singularly outlandish and compassionate imagination...the novel has one shouting its praises to anybody who is within earshot

Enchantingly clever

So fluid, the pages turn themselves

Irresistible comfort read

It would be a hard heart indeed that remained unmoved . . . the tender feelings that Noble engenders in her readers are to be cherished

Tissues are essential. You'll ricochet between delicately watering eyes at the romance of it all and howling sobs at the unbearable tenderness

Stories, generations and nationalities collide in what is an entertaining and superior novel