This novel calls to mind the writings of the Bronte sisters... despite or maybe because of the author seeming so unconcerned with current trends, this book works on every level. The plot is full of twists, the charcters are multi-dimensional, and the atmosphere of that grand Victorian house, with all its intrigue and hierarchy, is electric. Set in Stone is a gripping page-turner for children and adults alike

An absorbing, thoughtful, jigsaw puzzle of a book... if its atmosphere is that of a Victorian mystery, the setting combines the richly imagined detail of a George Eliot novel with the grace and light of a Vuillard painting

The protagonists' unreliable narratives keep readers on the edge of their seats as the shocking nature of their secret is gradually, teasingly revealed in this lyrical novel

Linda Newberry has very successfully recreated the nineteenth century voice reminiscent of the Bronte's and Austen, and the element of mystery to be solved evokes the style of Wilkie Collins. The particular strength of this novel is the way in which the characters are drawn, each with their own story that leads the reader through the quagmire that is the Farrow family saga

Exactly captures genteel Victorian diction and the seething lust, shame and cruelty beneath

Full of intrigue and deception ......Newbery writes with grace and immediacy

With its dark subject matter and the 19th-century setting, Set In Stone has all the ingredients of a Victorian Gothic novel.

The writing is crisp and the images are sharp

It’s been a long time since I’ve been so mesmerized with a novel’s each next sentence. Jennifer Clement is one of our most inventive novelists. There’s no telling what she’ll see. Whatever it is, it’s something right in front of us, but—here is the magic trick—something we have never before seen. Gun Love is an amazement: fierce, inventive, tender

Through a memorable coming-of-age story set in America’s margins, Clement makes all of these things true at once: A gun is a valentine, a secret-bearer, a penitent, a world destroyer, an exposed belly, an insurance policy, a sudden act of God

Clement is a brilliant stylist... her metaphors and similes are superb; and together they create a haunting atmosphere ... Always evocative, it is an unforgettable knockout not to be missed

Pearl’s story takes place in a world both strange and familiar, in the fairy tale of her mother’s imagination and in an America pockmarked by gun violence and poverty ... Clement’s quiet tragedy is moving, unsettling, and filled with characters who will haunt you long after the story ends

Clement’s affecting and memorable novel is also an incisive social commentary that will give readers much to ponder

Clement turns her hypnotic pen to the story of America’s love affair with guns

Taut, spare, musical, metaphor-laden, haunting, and every so often it hits you so hard in the gut that you gasp

A master of figurative language

The inventiveness and charm of Clement’s narrative voice are such that Gun Love never stops being a pleasure to read. Every paragraph is nutty and passionate and glamorous

McEwan's brilliance as a novelist lies in his ability to isolate discrete moments in life and invest them with incredible significance

McEwan's style is lean and clear...every sentence feels carefully crafted, the words all perfectly in place

A tightly focused human drama... McEwan gives the reader access to both characters' thoughts with his usual skill, and the comedy of embarrassment, or of the kind of erotic misunderstanding that Milan Kundera used to specialise in, quickly disappears as the marital bed begins to seem more and more ominous... The bedroom scene itself is carried off brilliantly

A fine book, homing in with devastating precision on a kind of Englishness which McEwan understands better than any other living writer, the Englishness of deceit, evasion, repression and regret. In On Chesil Beach McEwan has combined the intensity of his narrowly focused early work with his more expansive later flowered to devastating effect

McEwan is the kind of author who can say more in a sentence than most can say in a chapter...This is a thoughtful book which provokes thought. But more immediately than that, this is a book which, while managing to be very funny, gives us a wonderful and moving portrait of a specific time, and two of its hostages, and of how to make a mess of love

McEwan conveys the near-numinous significance of a single moment with quiet, almost unbearable grace

A heavenly read

Simmering with tension and fraught with tales of failed friendship and broken relationships, this is a fantastic summer read.

Satisfyingly full of suspense with engaging characters

A thrilling new novel about friendship, trust and the thin line that often occurs between what is perceived as morally right and wrong . . . another page-turning, addictive read

Gripping stuff

A satisfying page-turner

Page turner

Gripping, twisty and written with Koomson’s trademark brilliance, this is pure class

A real page turner

Love, loss, new beginnings and saying goodbye, it's all in here. A moving read

A terrific novel.

[Segal's] descriptions are spare and unerring; everyday family interactions are observed warmly and yet with precision

Evans' writing is like water; her sentences ebb and flow and change course, mirroring the Thames as it wends its way in and around the characters' lives

A masterpiece of modern living

An amazing book full of wisdom and empathy

An immersive look into friendship, parenthood, sex, and grief - as well as the fragility of love. It is told with such detail, you're left wanting more

Beautifully written and observed

Evans is extraordinarily good on the minutiae of grief, family, and the fragility of love

a lyrical portrait of modern London