Sarah Ridgard has created such a wonderfully evoked and fully-realised world - the earthy Suffolk landscape she describes is like a character in itself. The strange, dark, brooding atmosphere will stay with me for a long time.

Death and mayhem in sleepy rural Suffolk . . . Ridgard’s evocation of landscape, of farming, its seasons, cruelties and epiphanies, is striking.

With its drunken farmers and tongue-wagging wives, the rural Suffolk community of Ridgard’s debut novel is privy to some outlandish goings-on. Fortunately for the reader, the young narrator, Desiree, is witness to most of these scandals. Haunted by the body of a discarded baby she finds in a ditch, she decides to untangle the mystery surrounding the corpse; as she does so, her family and the village gradually come apart around her.

Throughout his ordeal, as Arn turns from captive to child soldier to refugee, he speaks in the imperfect cadences of the English he only learned years later. It's a wise narrative choice: Telling Arn's story this way creates a sense of foreignness that feels right, and gives rise to the accidental poetry of faulty translation.

The book gave me that rare, greedy feeling of: this is so good I want to read it all at once but I mustn't or it will be over too soon

It's pretty much flawless . . . Haddon stays compassionate to all his characters, but not once does his story descend into treacly pathos or easy tears. This is a high ambition fully achieved

Supremely well-written, funny and oddly affecting

Exceptional by any standards . . . When we look at the world through Christopher's eyes we see it more clearly and understand ourselves better. What more could you want of a book?

Exceptional by any standards. Haddon sticks rigidly to the limits imposed by autism without sacrificing literary viability. When we look at the world through Christopher's eyes we see it more clearly and understand ourselves better. What more could you want of a book?

Mark Haddon has produced a well-executed, unusual mystery.

astonishing and provocative

an unexpected gem and quite possibly the best novel of the year

Outstanding and moving

The most amazing book . . . The author handled the character wonderfully.

heartwarming

A heart-warming story about a boy struggling to communicate with the world

An intriguing, enlightening,and totally compelling read with surely the most unlikely hero in young people's literature

Laugh-out-loud funny

...original, kind, disturbing and profoundly moving.

A stroke of genius, as the advantages of having a naive, literal-minded boy in the driving seat are manifold...we do learn what it might fe el like to have Asperger's Syndrome.

A truly original work of fiction . . .a unique tale

excellent

A wonderful first person narrative of a boy with Asperger;s Syndrome; funny, sad and extraordinarily original

The highlight of the year

This is the magazine of the National Autistic Society: the review is written by someone with Asperger's Syndrome. "This book is a good murder mystery story but a better description of how th mind of a different person with some kind of special need looks upon how things work and come about.

This startlingly original story . . . Has surprised everyone-not least the author.The book is funny, gripping, sad and unstintingly entertaining.

So if you're interested in solving mysteries and want to learn about autism in children, you'll love this book

A triumph from first page to last . . . Haddon's prose is empathetic and you cannot help but be drawn into young Christpher's world

This is a unique book written from the perspective of a unique character . . . It is very easy to read and would satisfy anyone from eight to 88

I found this book highly entertaining and enthralling though it was a bit sad at times.