Forster's style is easy and unpretentious. In a brief paragraph she can create a character we care about, a story we long to see resolved

Few authors share Margaret Forster's extraordinary ability to transform the ordinary day-to-day activities of unremarkable people into compelling fiction

A fine novel... an inspired reflection on the redemptive potential of art

The characters are fully developed and differentiated...there is harrowing emotional insight; it also contains elements of real comedy

Her historical skills are, as always, matched by her marvellous empathy... A finely crafted novel

A skilful, apparently simple tale is unostentatiously styled to disguise its artificiality and this writer's artful adaption, but not contradiction, of historical facts

The writing lies between poetry and prose... Beautifully written

A deeply eccentric novel, often beautifully written, with a haunting atmosphere

Brilliant ... In a hilarious portrayal of the ups and downs of being wife No.2, The Second Wives Club puts paid to the stereotype of the wicked stepmother once and for all

This is the perfect holiday read but would be just as entertainiing on the commute to work as accompanying you pool side

Second wives form a club to bitch about their husbands and in-laws in this compelling read

Goodwin does an excellent job...a bleak, clever, complex and utterly compelling thriller with the grip of a pitbull.

Beautifully written...Idiosyncratic and highly enjoyable

North London gangland life and a very nasty murder mystery, but this highly compulsive, unputdownable novel is so much more...The events are extraordinary and the finale very disturbing and the reading experience is one of best I've had for a long time.

Intense and deeply disturbing, Sweet Gum is the kind of story you can't help wishing...was strictly confined to the pages of a book. But it's not - this is real life in a modern world: a seedily contemporary world of criminals, lap-dancing, drugs, perversion, prostitution and betrayal. Written by a journalist known for her investigations into the crime underworld, Sweet Gum brilliantly captures the sense of the London streets with a scintillating nastiness that's totally addictive. Unputdownable

Deliciously bittersweet...vividly evoked...an assured, ambitious and inventive work

Brisk and wry intelligence...there is a constant wit and genuine sparkle of language at work here

Her reputation as a gifted novelist will be assured...Sweet Gum balances a visceral portrait of modern evil with an ambitious work on the themes of redemption, love and justice which is both refreshing and strangely nostalgic.