Haley succeeds beautifully where many have failed... The book is an act of love, and it is this which makes it haunting

A gripping mixture of urban confessional and political manifesto, it not only inspired a generation of black activists, but drove home the bitter realities of racism to a mainstream white liberal audience

Groundbreaking

A Pulitzer Prize-winning story about the family ancestry of author Alex Haley... [and] a symbolic chronicle of the odyssey of African Americans from the continent of Africa to a land not of their choosing

Ireland's most versatile writer... His storytelling is masterful, and his characters are real and vibrant... A sombre, often heartbreaking story... O'Connor conducts his bittersweet symphony with humour, sensitivity and immense style

Funny, beautiful and strangely moving - stuffed full of belly laughs, but written from the heart

Canter explores with gentle acuity the oppositions in long term friendship, and delves humorously into the relationship between writer and subject

The most impressive thing in this novel is the way it captures the nuances of the love hate relationship between two friends who have enjoyed contrasting fortunes...There will not be many more polished debuts in 2006. Canter has taken an old tale and retold it with admirable invention and freshness

Brilliant ... In a hilarious portrayal of the ups and downs of being wife No.2, The Second Wives Club puts paid to the stereotype of the wicked stepmother once and for all

This is the perfect holiday read but would be just as entertainiing on the commute to work as accompanying you pool side

Second wives form a club to bitch about their husbands and in-laws in this compelling read

Goodwin does an excellent job...a bleak, clever, complex and utterly compelling thriller with the grip of a pitbull.

Beautifully written...Idiosyncratic and highly enjoyable

North London gangland life and a very nasty murder mystery, but this highly compulsive, unputdownable novel is so much more...The events are extraordinary and the finale very disturbing and the reading experience is one of best I've had for a long time.

Intense and deeply disturbing, Sweet Gum is the kind of story you can't help wishing...was strictly confined to the pages of a book. But it's not - this is real life in a modern world: a seedily contemporary world of criminals, lap-dancing, drugs, perversion, prostitution and betrayal. Written by a journalist known for her investigations into the crime underworld, Sweet Gum brilliantly captures the sense of the London streets with a scintillating nastiness that's totally addictive. Unputdownable

Deliciously bittersweet...vividly evoked...an assured, ambitious and inventive work

Brisk and wry intelligence...there is a constant wit and genuine sparkle of language at work here

Her reputation as a gifted novelist will be assured...Sweet Gum balances a visceral portrait of modern evil with an ambitious work on the themes of redemption, love and justice which is both refreshing and strangely nostalgic.