Brilliant.

A heady brew of crime, romance and satire set amid the sordid glitz of London nightlife in the 1920s . . . Shrines of Gaiety sees Atkinson on her finest form . . . A marvel of plate-spinning narrative knowhow . . . a peak performance of consummate control.

Sharp, witty and fiendishly plotted ... you don't so much as read it as surrender to it

Seduction, betrayal and larger-than-life characters that will have you hooked until the last page.

Kate Atkinson is on deliciously acerbic form in Shrines of Gaiety ... exposing the underbelly of London nightlife in the roaring 20s

Atkinson has a plotter's mind: intricate, clever, satisfying. Shrines of Gaiety is all about life's tangled lines, intersections and synchronicities...The kind of fine-tuned observation that can produce an enormous, vibrant cast is quite something and I can think of few writers other than Dickens who can match it. Shrines of Gaiety is engrossing and fun, powered by subtle skills.

This book is one to savour, for the energy, for the wit, for the tenderness of characterisation that make Atkinson enduringly popular.

As vividly filthy, populous, dangerous as anything described by Dickens, but writing is closer to Thackeray's... Atkinson is a novelist of unrivalled immediacy, authority, and skill.

Kate Atkinson is simply one of the best writers working today, anywhere in the world...she's a global treasure... [Shrines] is set during Jazz Age London, in all its fizzy madness and desperation for the new, the better, the hustle. Atkinson has a magician's ability to switch a reader's mood within a few paragraphs, and as dark as her stories can get, within them always shines a beacon of humanity.

Atkinson is a thoughtful writer with an astute understanding of 20th-century social history. This is the perfect novel for uncertain times, when comfort of a particularly English and nostalgic stripe is required.

A rich cast of characters, an elegantly intricate plot - this is classic Atkinson.

Atkinson has a tremendous gift for bringing the past to life but wearing her research lightly. With charismatic characters, witty dialogue and a compelling plot, she captures the reckless atmosphere of a city still coming to terms with the horrors of the First World War. It's an absorbing read and a novel to savour.

Atkinson at her inimitable best.

Dickensian, yes, but infused with a playful knowingness that's pure Atkinson.

A deliciously immersive novel full of deftly drawn characters.

This part-literary, part-thriller novel showcases a host of glittering characters...Full of dry wit and charm...if you loved Peaky Blinders, you'll love this.

Exuberant, immersive storytelling featuring intrigue and betrayal is matched with wit and tenderness

With charistmatic characters, witty dialogue, and a compelling plot, she captures the reckless atmosphere of a city still coming to terms with the horrors of the First World War. It's an absorbing read and a novel to savour.

Full of grit and atmosphere.

Atkinson captures both the glamour and the seediness of this heady period with consummate skill in a book teeming with memorable characters. Gorgeously vivid, often strange and always very funny, it should cement her reputation as one of our finest novelists.

If Dickens had lived to write about The Jazz Age, he would have produced a novel much like Kate Atkinson's "Shrines of Gaiety"... masterful.

There is the perfect balance throughout of sweetness and heartbreak. And, as always, there is the unmistakable zest of Ms. Atkinson's dry wit.

Combines the colour of a historical drama with the pace of a thriller and the detail of a police procedural... masterful.

The novel grabs the reader from the outset. It paints a picture of the capital's glittering nightlife and its seedier underside so vivid, that it is almost possible to smell the stale cigarette smoke and taste the alcohol... the story of Nellie and her family, and the characters they associate with, builds to a satisfying ending as the strands of their lives are deftly woven together.

Magnificent. A rich and vivid portrayal of sly, brilliant characters in the nightlife of 20s London. I fell in love with them all, even the villains ... I loved every minute.

Froths with all-night parties, corrupt policemen, sickly cocktails, swanky cars, gossip columnists, gambling dens and beautiful clothes... Ms Atkinson once again proves herself to be a consummate entertainer.

Go out and buy this book today.

Book of the Month

Atkinson's latest fictional treat is packed with intrigue... one can never underestimate the pleasurable power of [her] ability to stud her narrative with humor

An absorbing tale

The latest novel from an author who never lets you down

What could be more reassuring in troubling times than a new William Boyd novel? Trio is immensely readable, its descriptions full of light and colour, its humour spot on, its mood a perfect mix of frolicsome and melancholy

Reading William Boyd's Trio is like shrugging on a worn leather jacket on the first brisk morning of autumn: cosy but cool . . . He has enormous fun with the worlds - and egos - of page and screen

Breakneck pace seems to be a function of Boyd's exceptional imaginative facility, which sees him just as irresistibly drawn to new ideas as his hero is . . . there's something irresistible about that energy . . . if a whole-life novel is intended to represent the span of a unique existence, then The Romantic gets it right

The Romantic is a whole-life novel, a form in which Boyd excels . . . a terrific read

On The Overstory: The best book I've read in ten years. A remarkable piece of literature

On The Overstory: An extraordinary novel . . . an astonishing performance . . . he is incredibly good at turning science into poetry

The success of the story - and a success it is - comes not from the ingenious scientific speculations, nor the shrewd literary connections (on the "emotional telepathy" of a work of art, or Daniel Keyes's Flowers for Algernon), but the human story between father and son, as Theo finds out 'how my brain learns to resemble what it loves

Richard Powers's Booker Prize-shortlisted novel is both brutal and heartwarming, intimate and profound. A masterfully curated story of love, grief and loneliness, quietly building to an inevitable and devastating close

He composes some of the most beautiful sentences I've ever read. I'm in awe of his talent

In Bewilderment, the Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist has crafted a story of great beauty and power