'dense with evocative imagery'

Amis can out-sentence practically anyone. The firecracker returns of phrase are not just audacious, they're also accurate... Like Nabokov, Amis makes writing seem fun, serious fun

Amis is as talented a journalist as he is a novelist, but these essays all manifest an unusual extra quality, one that is not unlike friendship. He makes an effort; he makes readers feel that they are the only person there

A superb journalist... It is Amis's jaunty, appalled and always avid watchfulness that makes in this collection true and truly enjoayable... Visiting Mrs Nabokov is a suitcase full of treats

Margaret Forster has a remarkable gift for taking huge social issues and welding them into minutely observed human dramas that are perfect portraits of the way we live now...The story grips and the heart bleeds for these good mothers who are, like all mothers, never good enough

'McAdam's narrative weaves in virtuoso dialogue as well as genuine warmth-Exhilarating'

'Impressive and ambitious'

'A highly intelligent and moving book'