One of the year's funniest books ... witty, wise and worth returning to again and again

Funny, smart, soulful and sometimes devastating, this book shows life in all its shades. It made me laugh and cry

Warm, wry, charming, absorbing ... It's the most gorgeous and heartbreaking book about humans and why we need each other

Funny and adorable

I was reminded - very happily reminded - of Kurt Vonnegut. But Patrick Freyne is his own writer and this book is clever, lovely and great, great fun

Patrick Freyne has a distinct and enviable gift for story-telling ... Full of humour and tenderness, this book is an absolute JOY

One of the best-written, smartest and gosh-darn-it funniest books I've read in a very long while

Hilariously, painfully, Freynefully brilliant

Whether he's writing about his childhood on a military base, working in a kebab shop with a nazi in his teens, playing in punk bands in his twenties, or grappling with the question of whether to have children, Patrick Freyne is a writer of rare humour, depth, and humanity. These essays are a delight

A cracking, sad, funny, honest, brave and hilarious read

No one makes me laugh like Patrick Freyne

Superb ... The stories move from breathtakingly vulnerable to extraordinarily funny, and all with such skill and lightness of touch. I loved it

I don't know another writer who could balance poignancy and hilarity with such grace ... Goosebumps! Guffaws! It's got it all. I love this book

Guffaw-out-loud funny

A riotous read from the get-go ... An absolute tonic for our times

F*cking fantastic. Patrick is a brilliant writer

Lovely ... It's very worth reading

A wonderful book ... done with a gorgeous twist of humour and great emotional insight ... One of my books of the year

Exquisite ... One of the funniest writers in Ireland

Immensely readable, warm, human and very, very funny

Pixies were loud-quiet-loud. Patrick Freyne is funny-sad-funny. I really loved his new book

Readers are sure to find themselves touched by Freyne's writing ... Delightful

Freyne's thoroughly entertaining debut is a flash of warmth and wit in the darkness

Genuinely moving ... [It] will evoke warmth in anyone who isn't totally sociopathic

A delightful insight into the mind of the hilarious Patrick Freyne

So honest, so funny, and most importantly, 11/10 for self-deprecation

Brilliant ... An absolute mind hug

Freyne's radar is precision-honed to find the madness within the mundane

More moving that I ever expected and somehow funnier than I assumed

Captivating and moving.

Moving... Beneath the attention-seeking is a well-loved author who has gone through his cupboards, giving us all that he has.

A defiant and witty testimony to mortality and a tender remembrance of his friends and literary heroes… I’ve been reading and re-reading it this year

Continues in the same superior vein as Restoration… The fusion of such an engrossing character, and the minutiae of another time, remains a marvel

In this evocative and beautifully drawn novel of family and loyalty in the face of an uncertain future Tremain continues the story of a wonderfully unique character

Hugely enjoyable

Merivel’s hapless charm remains intact in this tour de force of literary technique

A sequel that looks back to the earlier novel without ever quite recapturing its spirit is the perfect form in which to evoke that feeling of having to carry on, and of trying to make yourself have fun even with it eventually begins to hurt

A marvelllously rollicking good read, and it is such a pleasure to meet Robert Merivel again. Rose Tremain brings the character to life in a way that makes you want to find out even more about the period. Enormously skilled and deft