Author:Margaret Forster

To Penelope Butler the family was all, the sole ambition of her adult life. Three of her four daughters, however, had different ideas. Rosemary rejected it; Jess was destroyed by it; Celia found it eluded her. Only Emily pursued her mother's ideal, with disastrous results.
Penelope begins to record their family story as it unfolds. But when Rosemary discovers these private papers she is enraged by her mother's distortions of the truth and proceeds to tell the story from her perspective. From D-Day on into the turbulent post-war years, a picture emerges not only of a single family in all its complexities, but also of the changing world that shaped their lives.
A brilliant, sometimes terrible novel about the generation war within a family, as witty and cool as it is heart-rending
—— Auberon Waugh , Daily MailPainful...gripping...her "private" story reaches far beyond the merely personal
—— ObserverMedvei's prose is limpid and particular, telling the story with an exquisite control that interfuses the sublime and ridiculous in exact proportions, the one hidden inside the other... The result is pleasurable and profound. Medvei never puts a foot wrong
—— Times Literary SupplementMedvei's fable about the inexplicable nature of human passion unfolds with a gentle surrealism
—— Financial TimesThis absolutely engrossing tale is written with serene poise
—— Sunday TimesBy the end, as with the French classic The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the novel emerges as a cautionary tale of such subtlety that its truths - about dependency, love and ownership - are made bearable by the manner of their telling. And by their philosophical charm - which is Medvei's gift
—— Tom Adair , ScotsmanThe most affectionate literary portrait since Bottom was 'translated' in A Midsummer Night's Dream
—— Michael Arditti , Daily MailIt's short and definitely a page-turner - but with lingering thoughtfulness, rather than the rush-through-discard-immediately feel of some fast-paced books… He certainly knows how to craft a novel so that the reader rushes through, loving every moment, curious as to what the next page will hold
—— Stuck in a Book (blog)This is a wildly entertaining book but, beware, it also bites
—— Neel MukherjeeAchingly funny, touching and fizzing with intelligence, this book will have you laughing out loud even as you fear for the state of world politics
—— Tash AwA delicious bon-bon of a book, skewering Pakistani society.Great good fun
—— . - Daniyal Mueenuddin, author of In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, shortlisted for the National Book AwardIn Makkai's picaresque first novel, Lucy, a 26-year-old children's librarian, "borrows" her favorite patron, bright, book-loving 10-year-old Ian, after his fundamentalist parents enroll him in a program meant to "cure" his nascent homosexuality.
—— BooklistHis biggest, most ambitious and most engaging novel to date
—— The TimesPsychological acuity, a wonderful linguistic precision and the ability to make beautiful accordance between form and content via thoughtful narrative experiment. Gods without Men is a step further along the road towards the full realisation of Kunzru's early promise. It makes undeniable the claim that he is one of our most important novelists . . . As large and cruel and real as life
—— Independent on SundayAmbitiously eclectic . . . smartly sharp social detail, high-fidelity dialogue, vivid evocation of place . . . ironic wit and exuberant guyings of paranormal gobbledegook
—— The Sunday TimesFuelled by an energetic intelligence. Along with a love of big ideas came narrative zest, verbal and comic flair, and an acute eye for contemporary mores both East and West . . . Gods with Men marks another new and bold departure . . . This really is Kunru's great American novel . . . Compulsively readable, skilfully orchestrated, Kunzru's American odyssey brings a new note into his underlying preoccupation with human identity'
—— IndependentBeing able to create a vivid sense of place is one of the hallmarks of a quality literary writer, but few could have done so as brilliantly as Hari Kunzru in his latest novel Gods without Men
—— Big IssueIntensely involving . . . Gods Without Men is one of the best novels of the year
—— Daily Telegraph






