Author:Jeremy Page
'These were the nights when the German bombers growled through the sky, their bellies full with steel and cordite. When the moon was low their dark shapes and still darker shadows came over the coast. Several hours later they'd return again, wearily, lighter in weight, fewer in number, dropping the occasional bomb on the forgotten land of creeks and channels beneath them. On one of those nights it all began for me - war, after all, starts many things, and even though I wasn't born for another twenty-five years, my story began there.'
It is May 1945 and as church bells ring out Victory in Europe over the Norfolk saltmarshes, Goose's daughter Lil is born. But as Lil enters Goose's world, her father leaves it, in a makeshift boat bound - or so the story goes - for Germany, his home.
Forty years later it is Lil's son, Pip, who begins to make sense of his family's fragmented history. Who was his grandfather, who fell from the sky into Goose's life and then disappeared as suddenly as he came? What was the truth of his mother, Lil, who lived and lost her way between the creeks and the samphire? And what does it all mean for Pip, whose heritage of flood, fireworks, fish and clouds, has left him ill-prepared for life beyond the marshes?
Stunningly good. Captures the landscapes with a truly deft, water-colourist's touch. His ear for Norfolk cadence is extremely acute
—— Rose TremainA powerful new voice. Funny, flavoursome . . . Page brilliantly evokes Norfolk's bleakness, the harsh round of the seasons
—— IndependentHugely promising... a pleasing, entertaining romp
—— DeathRayI had a blast reading Night of Knives... I highly recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed the Steven Erikson novels
—— Fantasyhotlist.comEsslemont handles action and brooding atmosphere equally well
—— StarburstP.G. Wodehouse remains the greatest chronicler of a certain kind of Englishness, that no one else has ever captured quite so sharply, or with quite as much wit and affection
—— Julian FellowesA genius ... Elusive, delicate but lasting
—— Alan AyckbournWitty and effortlessly fluid. His books are laugh-out-loud funny
—— Arabella WeirThe Wodehouse wit should be registered at Police HQ as a chemical weapon
—— Kathy LetteThe funniest writer ever to put words to paper
—— Hugh LaurieThe greatest comic writer ever
—— Douglas AdamsP.G. Wodehouse wrote the best English comic novels of the century
—— Sebastian FaulksSublime comic genius
—— Ben EltonA triumph
—— HelloTop marks. Fantastic
—— HeatLovely
—— Daily TelegraphMoving and intelligent
—— IndependentMagnetic, unpretentious and bursting with one-liners
—— CosmopolitanJewell's readability and emotional intelligence make her the cream of pop fiction
—— GlamourFans of chick-lit will understand when I say that this is a book you simply disappear into
—— Sunday Telegraph