[A] marvelous romantic comedy of manners ... Taken as a whole, Quindlen’s writings represent a generous and moving interrogation of women’s experience across the lines of class and race ... [Still Life with Bread Crumbs] proves all the more moving because of its light, sophisticated humor. Quindlen’s least overtly political novel, it packs perhaps the most serious punch ... Quindlen has delivered a novel that will have a staying power all its own.

Focused on a few characters, this is engaging, immaculately constructed storytelling, with a warm message about the chance of happiness later in life

Quindlen has made a home at the top of the bestsellers lists with novels that capture the grace and frailty of everyday life, and her latest work is sure to take her there again. With spare, elegant prose, she crafts a poignant glimpse into the inner life of an aging woman who discovers that reality contains much more color than her own celebrated black-and-white images.

Quindlen has always excelled at capturing telling details in a story, and she does so again in this quiet, powerful novel, showing the charged emotions that teem beneath the surface of daily life.

A Pulitzer Prize–winning columnist and star in the pantheon of domestic fiction (Every Last One, 2010), Quindlen presents instantly recognizable characters who may be appealingly warm and nonthreatening, but that only serves to drive home her potent message that it’s never too late to embrace life’s second chances.

Profound … engaging

A romantic comedy layered with depth, grace and wit… a smart, funny novel filled with surprisingly sparse prose and beautifully-drawn characters

Elegantly crafted . . . will delight devotees of his work, and intrigue newcomers. Hamid makes a compelling case for pushing back against the mono-identities of religion, nationality and race and for embracing the things that all human beings share.

In contrast with the debased language of extremism, militarism and nationalism, his is a humane and rational voice demanding a better future

Helle Helle is a beautiful stylist. This Should Be Written in the Present Tense has an atmosphere that is deeply mysterious whilst staying entirely naturalistic – reminiscent of some of the less far out works of Marguerite Duras or Anna Kavan

It would be easy to dismiss this as a novel where nothing happens. Yet anyone can relate to Dorte’s purposelessness: “I didn’t know what to do with myself, or how to go on.” Ultimately, though, it’s a hopeful story: a reminder that it’s never too late to change

A curious and compelling read

An odd but intriguing piece of work

Helle Helle is a real talent and This Should be Written in the Present Tense is one of the literary finds of the year

Very arty, and strangely uplifting

Hilarious, loving and deadly serious

Some pieces of literature, no matter how great an effort you make as a critic, cannot be opened or captured in a way that does justice to the work. That’s how I feel about Helle Helle’s new and unusually precious novel... Most of the sentences are small works of art, containing a whole story in themselves

This Should be Written in the Present Tense is an excellent novel, yet another sleek and nonchalant masterpiece from Helle Helle

Helle Helle has written a captivating novel about Dorte Hansen, who sleepwalks through life, letting chance rule

A beautiful tale examining the processes of life

Eschewing a conventional narrative, this absorbing novel deceptively contains a crackling energy within its understated, artful prose