This superb volume ... urges us to consider pain and loss, but also to remember to value experience and thought. The essay form, itself once thought dead and buried, is revived regularly in the London Review of Books and this welcome selection shows it strong in heart, pumping away and breathing well.

Standing out…are two fine studies of literary monsters. John Henry Jones’s piece on the poet and critic William Empson…[and] Terry Castle’s memoir of Susan Sontag…there are some terrific stories.

A glimpse inside the lives of bookish people … Emily Witt writes one of the best things ever about online dating

The best sheer quality writing of any magazine I know.

This astute novel is witness to an undeniable literary talent tragically cut short

Her writing is harder and more vicious… Nemirovsky is fascinated by the impact of war on human behaviour

Like Suite Française, this is a gripping novel that at the same time is a terrible indictment

It’s a sobering glimpse of the lives and loves of ordinary Parisians, and the best and worst of human nature

It is a triumphant tour de force, a powerful, cinematic, real-time account of a European nation in full, panicked flight from a merciless invader

A convincing portrait of human nature in the crucible of war

A beautifully written book

This sweeping novel cements Nemirovsky’s place as a master storyteller

Thought-provoking, and at times brutal, this thriller will surely be the basis of many discussions about the nature of society and the times we live in

Peyton Marshall is a writer of intelligence and keen observation with a great future. GOODHOUSE is a startling debut. In James, she has created a compelling and convincing hero for the all-too-probable dark times ahead

Very arty, and strangely uplifting

Hilarious, loving and deadly serious

Some pieces of literature, no matter how great an effort you make as a critic, cannot be opened or captured in a way that does justice to the work. That’s how I feel about Helle Helle’s new and unusually precious novel... Most of the sentences are small works of art, containing a whole story in themselves

This Should be Written in the Present Tense is an excellent novel, yet another sleek and nonchalant masterpiece from Helle Helle

Helle Helle has written a captivating novel about Dorte Hansen, who sleepwalks through life, letting chance rule

A beautiful tale examining the processes of life

Eschewing a conventional narrative, this absorbing novel deceptively contains a crackling energy within its understated, artful prose