Two small, sorbet-coloured paperbacks were the most exciting thing in poetry this year. Reviving the 1960s Penguin Modern Poets series with panache, they united new and established voices from Britain and North America in electric pocketfuls

The sort of book I want to sit down and read to people on a stormy night. Everything a fantasy fan could ever want is woven into the warp and weft of the narrative

I can't wait to read the next book in this series

I absolutely loved this! It's unlike anything I have read before

Magical. With Game of Thrones making mythical creatures universally cool, The Ballad Of Sir Benfro couldn't have come at a better time

One of the best new fantasy novels I've read recently

Roth remains as edgy, as furious, as funny, and as dangerous as he was forty years ago

I Married a Communist proves that, following the success of Sabbath's Theater and American Pastoral, he remains on extraordinary form... Wonderful storytelling and characterisation

The McCarthy era has faded, eerily, into nostalgia, just as Capitol Hill produces its own 90s version of witch-hunt and communal obsession with enemies of the state, and perversions of justice perpetrated in democracy's name. Roth avoids nostalgia by making his narrator an active, if unwitting participant in the original drama, caught up in political currents and counter-currents he did not comprehend at the time

Roth’s conflicted, many-layered characters give this work memorable force

A wonderfully risky project...an ambitious, multi-layered creation...an energising and uplifting story

A moving exploration of the intricacies of the imagination, a sly teasing-out of a host of big ideas and small revelations, all hovering around a timeless quandary: how to observe, how to be

I wonder: How does she manage to so wonderfully weave in and out of time, to layer time, while creating something that feels like it was written this morning after she read today's newspaper?

Publisher's description. Autumn 2016: the UK is in pieces, divided by a historic once-in-a-generation summer. Love is won, love is lost. The seasons roll round as ever. From the imagination of the peerless Ali Smith comes a shape-shifting, light-footed, time-travelling novel. This is a story about right now, this minute; about ageing and time and love and stories themselves. Here comes Autumn.

Transcendental writing about art, death, political lies, trees and all the dimensions of love

Unbearably moving, shrewd and dreamy, playful, strange [and] soulful...[An] assessment of what it means to be alive...Ali Smith has a beautiful mind and where her mind goes, you want to follow...I am struck by, and stuck on, Autumn.

Fantastic writing, big ideas and generosity of spirit

The first serious Brexit novel

She is, of course, Scotland's Nobel laureate-in-waiting

Autumn is a beautiful, poignant symphony of memories, dreams and transient realities

It's all great fun, full of wit and invention and incident… And Hag-Seed is very funny, very often. The scenes where Felix's hard-chaw prisoners insult each other strictly through Shakespearean language are especially enjoyable.

Hag-Seed is funny and poignant, and offers much to amuse and delight.

Great fun, full of wit and invention and incident

Inspired and witty

Genuinely moving ... The tender way in which Atwood handles [Felix's] story really gives Hag-Seed its power

Atwood on mischievous form

Witty and clever

Stella Loves: Taking on a re-write of Shakespeare's The Tempest is a tall order. But Margaret Atwood is well up to the task with her new novel Hag-Seed

Blows layers of dust off the play while asking clever questions about the relationship between power, delusion and creativity

A delight... not only an unputdownable tale of revenge, it is also a masterclass in how to teach Shakespeare to those who think they won't like it

Atwood’s canny remix offers multiple pleasures: seeing the inmates’ takes on their characters, watching Felix make use of the limited resources the prison affords (legal and less so), and marveling at the ways she changes, updates, and parallels the play’s magic, grief, vengeance, and showmanship

So inventive, heartfelt, and swiftly rendered... Highly recommended.

Fellow fans, I am thrilled to report: Atwood is just as brilliant as ever. I would suggest scheduling some cozy armchair time with her book in the weeks to come

The new novels promise an intriguing opportunity to revisit the tales we know so well and see them in a new light.

Atwood joins the roll call of literary stars retelling Shakespeare's plays... masterful... My favourite retelling so far

An ingenious construction.

She merely understands that fiction can be a powerful weapon of
persuasion… A woman with inexhaustible talents

[A] triumphant reworking of The Tempest.

Atwood’s take on The Tempest is intense and extravagant… Atwood beautifully reimagine Shakespeare’s The Tempest… She writes with gusto and brilliance.

Hag-Seed enchants, endears and empowers. Seeing The Tempest through the cast of characters Atwood creates and the author's own overarching narrative gives the original play new life.

Atwood beautifully reimagines Shakespeare's The Tempest as Felix's personal and professional stories so aptly mirror the plot of the mystical and magical play. She writes with gusto and brilliance, making her the dream author to be part of the Shakespeare series.

The most successful 'retelling' of Shakespeare yet in Hogarth's anniversary series [...] us a thrilling revenge drama ... [It] rattles along with Atwood nimbly reworking the classic

[Atwood's] unique take on vengeance, enchantment and second chances is sure to delight old and new fans alike

A novel of great humour and creativity

A fitting tribute to a play built on magic and illusion. It’s a celebration of theatre, yes, but just as much a celebration of learning and teaching. Atwood’s spellbinding adaptation is a testament to Shakespeare’s lasting relevance.

Atwood’s novel reflects the play’s multifaceted nature… A fun and imaginative novel.

Atwood unrolls a dazzling remake of The Tempest… Ebullient comedy and keen perceptiveness combine in a bravura fictional tribute to Shakespeare.

A passionately original, heady, often musical modern remix.

I’d love to wake up on Christmas morning with Margaret Atwood’s Hag-Seed nestled in my stocking.

[A] highlight.

[Hag-Seed is] particularly clever and witty, with layer upon layer of correspondences with the original text waiting to be teased out by readers.

What’s impressive here is not just 77-year-old Atwood’s undimmed brilliance but the sheer effort she puts into the project… An absorbing read but also an erudite examination and explanation of the play’s themes. Not to be missed.

[It] would make an amazing Christmas present.

Atwood brings forth a cast of characters that comfortably inhabit their own world but often burst out of the page in song and rhyme. It is a playful piece of writing, tempered by grief and revenge and the bitterness that can consume, but ultimately this is a book full of the joys of redemption and hope. Wonderful.

Cleverly done… Very complex, like a set of Russian dolls. But it works amazingly well.

Delightfully crazy.

Rich and inventive… The play-within-a-play tripe is audaciously Shakespearean, and so is Atwood’s free-ranging imagination and witty way with language.

Masterful… Clever, funny and tender

She casts The Tempest adrift in a prison and makes a magisterial case for the timeless, classless relevance of Shakespeare’s plays.

I am in awe of Atwood

A real must read