A funny, touching and reflective study of life and love that not only reinforces his status as one of Britain's finest comic novelists, but also lays claim for him to be considered as one of our shrewdest and most compassionate writers ... A wonderful novel, mature in its handling of life's triumphs and tragedies, warm-hearted and witty in its insight into the nature of love

Going Gently, like all the best comic novels, mixes sadness with laughter to great effect ... probably Nobbs's finest work

Spellbinding ... Enormously entertaining and extremely funny

We should be thankful for the continued brilliance of David Nobbs

Nobody writes about family tensions better than Joanna Trollope.

A tour de force of family dynamics.

Trollope...remains painfully skilled in tracing the faultlines in human relationships.

a hugely readable novel…Trollope writes with unflagging skill. She is brilliant at exploring the often unearned sense of entitlement within families

A glorious family saga.

[A] deliciously funny novel…Walker’s clever observations on materialism, parenting, love, friendship and even internet dating are piercingly accurate, but served up with a generous dollop of humour…Fluidly written, with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, this debut from Walker is guaranteed to leave readers wanting more.

[A] witty, shrewd family saga … Mercilessly well-observed.

A corker of a debut.

Completion is Tim Walker’s first novel, and a pleasing one at that, with strong characterisation and astute observations

Tim Walker's entertaining first novel gets to grips with our property obsessed times.

Haddon writes superb books for children, teenagers and grown-ups, and gets every voice in this one dead right...a master craftsman

Honest and thought-provoking book

Haddon achieves a remarkable mélange of streams of consciousness, snatches of books, music, TV, private thoughts, lists, letters, all intertwined with sharply observed vignettes of everyday banality, soaring flights of description

He is almost unrivalled at the notoriously tricky task of giving an authentic voice to children, and his ability to pinpoint the comic aspects of the everyday scenarios that arise on all vacations makes for an amusing read

A beautiful object that will grace any holiday home's unfixably wobbly bedside table. The cover feels like a cracked china plate, decorated with a clever re-working of the willow-pattern; like the contents, it is subtle and clever. Haddon writes superb books for children, teenagers and grown-ups, and gets every voice in this one dead right. He is also a master craftsman, so this complicated narrative moves with the speed and certainty of released, unhappy holidaymakers hitting the homeward road. So shove this in your holidaying bag. You may have made a mistake with the booking, but you won't with the book.

Haddon has penetrating compassion for even his least prepossessing characters. He’s frequently acute about the details of speech, response and self-presentation that differentiate people, and particularly so about the weird co-existence in us all of animal instincts and higher yearnings: hunger with grief, physical pain with spiritual need, hot lust with the desire to connect. His characters – the whole befuddling gaggle of them – are unquestionably felt, and felt for, and even loved. Haddon has created a family whose problems feel warmly immediate and utterly contemporary.

CURL UP WITH…The Red House by Mark Haddon. An English family’s holiday – and the midlife and adolescent crises that erupt during it – is scrutinised from eight points of view in Mark Haddon’s warm and witty novel, which showcases his flair for observational comedy.

Mark Haddon’s latest is his most mature work to date. It’s mature in terms of both content and style, and reading The Red House there’s a sense that this ‘growing up’ is quite purposely Haddon’s intention. An effortlessly engrossing and richly rewarding read.

It's an old saying that you choose your friends but not your family and the family reunion has been well-used in literature, but Haddon breathes new life into it. He's never shied away from the difficult subjects and he deals sensitively with a child's burgeoning homosexuality but his real skill, his genius is in his understanding of mental problems, that disassociation between the mind and the brain. It's a book which is so right in every small detail but a gem when taken altogether.

The book gave me the ever-changing, fascinating and the feeling that I was looking through a looking glass. The eight of them have their own secrets, longings and resentments which only make them as human as you and I. The writing zips in montages and sometimes it becomes difficult to figure who is carrying the baton, though once you get used to the writing, it isn’t difficult to figure. The language and symbolism is weaved very well for a story of a dysfunctional family. In some parts, it almost reminded me of Faulkner’s, “The Sound and the Fury”. The Red House by Mark Haddon is a rollercoaster of emotions and all it works surprisingly well and all adds up at the end of the book. I would definitely and most certainly recommend this read for the long summer weekend that comes up.

Haddon can marry extraordinary perception with uncluttered language... He also burrows into the minds of his protagonists with astute precision

It looks like Mark Haddon is about to have a great big success all over again

Brilliantly readable… Comic and bittersweet

A closely observed domestic drama…

Characteristically original, deftly observed...

A beautifully orchestrated novel that gently questions how we define success

[Haddon] shows a knack for portraying family dynamics…

Mark Haddon proves himself a master of the domestic drama

Gripping drama