The best novelist on the planet

Murakami is like a magician who explains what he’s doing as he performs the trick and still makes you believe he has supernatural powers . . . But while anyone can tell a story that resembles a dream, it's the rare artist, like this one, who can make us feel that we are dreaming it ourselves

A dark and memorable fairytale about the lingering influence of childhood fears and the isolation of adulthood

If you have an hour to spare one day and want a short, dark fantasy read, The Strange Library is the book to pick up

Lucid, informative and drily funny, these essays show that Hamid is one of the most perceptive commentators on contemporary global politics

Mohsin Hamid is reasonable, intelligent...in short, just the sort of commentator the world could do with right now

Accessible, wise and beautifully clear

Elegantly crafted . . . will delight devotees of his work, and intrigue newcomers. Hamid makes a compelling case for pushing back against the mono-identities of religion, nationality and race and for embracing the things that all human beings share.

In contrast with the debased language of extremism, militarism and nationalism, his is a humane and rational voice demanding a better future

Helle Helle is a beautiful stylist. This Should Be Written in the Present Tense has an atmosphere that is deeply mysterious whilst staying entirely naturalistic – reminiscent of some of the less far out works of Marguerite Duras or Anna Kavan

It would be easy to dismiss this as a novel where nothing happens. Yet anyone can relate to Dorte’s purposelessness: “I didn’t know what to do with myself, or how to go on.” Ultimately, though, it’s a hopeful story: a reminder that it’s never too late to change

A curious and compelling read

An odd but intriguing piece of work

Helle Helle is a real talent and This Should be Written in the Present Tense is one of the literary finds of the year

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