A remarkable picture of a fascinating age which combined extraordinary bawdiness with silky sophistication (think Hogarth and Gainsborough)

A full-blooded historical - two parts Lizzie Bennett and Tom Jones's Sophia Western to one part Moll Flanders - with a splash of Fanny Hill

This enticing novel, written with charm and originality, is full of period detail and historical insight

A vibrant coming of age story...ricochets with bawdy energy, witty observation and rollicking pace between brothels, theatres and the corridors of political power. Lots of fun

The first instalment in Hallie Rubenhold’s sparking 18th-century fictional memoir series, This enticing novel, written with charm and originality, is full of period detail and historical insight

Ethan Hawke has got a lot of nerve. But he's also got a lot of talent ... What's most irritating about A Bright Ray of Darkness is that it's really good ... A novel that explores the demands of acting and the delusions of manhood with tremendous verve and insight ... Hawke is a genius at conjuring the hush of the auditorium, the thrill of live actors, the magical sense of a performance moving through time. Amid the endless pandemic lockdown, reading this novel with its spirited scene-by-scene re-enactments is the closest I've gotten to live theatre in 10 months ... I want to be immune to Hawke's charms, but I admit it: He's written a witty, wise and heartfelt novel about a spoiled young man growing up and becoming, haltingly, a better person. A Bright Ray of Darkness is a deeply hopeful story about the possibility of rising above one's narcissism. Bravo.

Hawke blurs the boundaries between past roles and autobiography and brings a world of fame, longing and oblivion into sharp focus.

William Harding is a successful film star whose life is in turmoil. Outed by the press as an adulterer, he is now holed up in a New York hotel, divorcing his popstar wife while preparing to make his Broadway debut in Henry IV. In his first novel for 20 years, Hawke has obeyed the adage 'write what you know', bringing the theatrical world, from first rehearsal to final performance, thrillingly to life.

...a fine book, full of narrative drive, illuminating information about the power of the stage, and a storyline that goes at quite a pace, but still has much room for humanity, showing that however big the mistakes people make, and however many people know about those mistakes, there is still the chance of redemption, if you look for it.

This enjoyable literary outing is in the American tradition of writers like Saul Bellow ... The Bellow vibe comes with Harding's active wrestling with his own conscience and it is never a sterile or bloodless reflection as he's a charged-up, sex-driven, cocaine-fuelled, whiskey drinking bloke with chips on his shoulder ... it is Harding's failures as a person that make him real for the reader ... a highly engaging and enjoyable read ... lively and spirited ... As we get on with lockdown after lockdown and a world without plays, gigs, and the community of shared experience this is a novel reminding us to cherish what we are missing.

A rather easier read is Ethan Hawke's A Bright Ray of Darkness: a smart novel about Broadway, acting, marriage, love and fame.

Delightfully, Hawke goes full throttle, conjuring a world of thespian grandiosity, engorged egos, brittle self-doubt and callow celebrity with a bravura performance.

A thumpingly accomplished novel about art, the heart, the Way of the Actor and scandal in the social media age. Whip smart and dripping with one-liners, A BRIGHT RAY OF DARKNESS is an urbane, uplifting blast of a write-what-you-know novel.

Elusive, unsettling, beautiful, haunting. This is a complex, devastating study of human relations; a portrait of intense love and damage in equal measure.

Beautifully written and hauntingly imagined

You can't get much farther north than the Ontario of Mary Lawson's icy, compelling stories of calamity and redemption. A Town Called Solace keeps you breathless with anxiety, then relief and finally even joy

Close to perfection

Lawson's writing is clear and emotive... In this poignant novel, rightfully recognised by the Booker judges, the steadfastness of children brings solace to lost grown-ups

There's a beauty and simplicity in her [Lawson's] stories set in small-town Canada

Anne Tyler is a big fan of this Canadian author and so am I

A lovely, gentle novel with edge, worthy of Anne Tyler

Lawson's writing is such that it appears effortless but, as all the strands come together to create a rich and satisfying tapestry, her genius for storytelling becomes apparent.

Completely absorbing... A Town Called Solace pleases at every level. It's a captivating tale suffused with wisdom and compassion

[In A Town Called Solace] doubts, difficulties and uncertainties of the human condition are examined carefully in a way that is both heartbreaking and joyful

Subtle and darkly funny, this tender novel unspools the interconnected lives of her beautifully drawn characters, as they grapple with grief and loss, while steadfastly hoping for a change of happiness in the face of life's uncertainties

[Lawson] writes an unpretentious prose that zings with metaphorical vim and humour

Exquisitely poignant

[An] absorbing novel