One of our foremost writers of naval fiction

It's a glory...intensely moving...It's a wise and moving novel, perfectly accomplished. It shows that no life is ordinary. It shines fresh light on the nature of love

Sublimely funny and moving...by the time I'd finished this sleek little novel I'd laughed out loud numerous times and, eventually, cried. That's as true a testimony to a book's loveliness as I know

A striking and wise novel, deceptively slight yet emotionally profound

This is a silk stocking of a novel: fragile, light - and yet possessed of surprising tensile strength...making it look this simple is a real art

De Bernieres is a skilful writer, poetic but unforced, who can soothe you like a masseur, telling well-oiled stories of past excitements, and then just when you are drifting off, dexterously tweak a pressure point

Attractive and completely compelling

A beautifully written and compelling story

De Bernière's mellifluent, clear prose slips through the reader's mind with efficient ease

By the end I was impressed, moved and touched

A bittersweet love story

You'll soon be as captivated by Roza's colourful tale as Chris is

A bitter-sweet story of missed opportunities

Keen-eyed and funny

There is so much truth here, as Tyler strips away the issue of ethnic difference to reach the heart of her complex and compelling matter

Warm and optimistic, this story about adoption raises issues of belonging and identity

Tyler possesses a remarkable ability to render the ordinary extraordinary, which makes reading her work like tucking into tea and cake on a cosy Sunday afternoon

Full of excruciatingly comic set-pieces, this is an immensely satisfying, yet subtle, read

Tenderly observed and lifted by humour, Digging to America is a complex novel that asks if anyone can ever truly fit in. In answering that question Ms Tyler has woven her magic once again

As in her previous books, the writing here makes for wholesome, comforting fare, spiced as always with urbane wit and a knack for nailing the small truths behind fine details

In Digging to America, Tyler exhibits her knack for softening the sharp edges of human contact, showing people with smudges of vulnerability on their faces as they dig toward each other

Her prose is at once unpretentious and elegiac, like a photograph by Dorothea Lange, and her imagery has staying power

Deft and wise prose... [Tyler's] skill at turning everyday occurrences into amazing storytelling gets better and better

Redemptive