The Ferrys (both of them) are natural storytellers, and the story they tell is convincing and compelling... this is a soulful and well-written page-turner

Totally captivating and page-turning on one level, completely soulful and honest on another level, beautifully written... a great and edifying read

Right from the very first sentence, teacher and travel writer Peter Ferry's debut is intriguing...the maxim of writing what you know has rarely been more intelligently approached in recent times as it is by Ferry

Part fiction, part travelogue, this is a wholly delightful enigma

Full of heart and soul, this two-layered story subtly smudges fiction and reality. Book of the Month

Ferry's first novel is a fresh take on the sometimes fatigued option that writers take of writing about writing, as he intelligently plays with the notions of fact and fiction, illusion and reality... A playful, thoughtful debut

The narrator's mounting obsession with discovering the truth is contagious: we really want to find out whodunit. Ferry builds suspense skilfully... Travel Writing illustrates the power of several kinds of story: love stories, travelogues, parables, family anecdotes, moral tales and the yarns people tell after a few beers late at night... the travelogues about Mexico, Thailand and Canada...are also fascinating excursions in their own right

Genuinely thrilling... leads to a powerful and troubling climax

Truly gripping

Opening with a mysterious yet distressing anecdote about a girl driving dangerously, Peter Ferry's first novel immediately captures the reader's imagination, drawing you into a story filled with humour, tenderness and suspense... The novel is as entertaining as it is intriguing and is not to be missed

A very neat piece of storytelling

A neat piece of storytelling

A forensic examination of loss and misunderstanding, a paean to the vital force of stories, and an incredibly moving look at a sword of Damocles that hangs over us all.

Harvey shows her remarkable powers of empathy and her no less remarkable literary skill. To write about a disordered mind is to court the danger of creating a work that is itself disordered. But from start to finish her control is absolute....I can think of few more distinguished literary debuts in recent years

Moving, convincing, adroit- it is a remarkably accomplished first novel and a beautiful jacket

Harvey's is certainly the outstanding fictional debut to have come my way this year

Intricately and delicately woven

Impressive first novel [which] plays some original tricks with narrative

An extremely gifted writer

Deeply original and captivating...The lyrical power of these shifting and competing narratives is matched by the absolute emotional realism of Jake's own desperate plight: his shame and anger and impotence are devastatingly recorded. And yet this is not a depressing novel, but rather one so full of urgent life that it rouses even as it terrifies.

Many novels have documented the trials of living with dementia, but this mind-bending debut throws us straight into the skewed recesses of a sufferer's brain... An exhilarating trip, but for the thought that this is a place some of us might visit one day.

Brilliantly melds a factual post-war murder into a dark fictional tale

Land of Marvels offers a fluent plot peopled by sharp, affecting characters and graced with the author's usual erudite wit and understanding humour

[a] cleverly plotted and elegantly written novel...Unsworth has evidently done a great deal of research, but this is woven seamlessly into the fabric of the novel so that the reader is caught up in the excitement of Somerville's discoveries.