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The Accidental Tourist
The Accidental Tourist
Dec 5, 2025 6:08 AM

Author:Anne Tyler,Joe Barrett

The Accidental Tourist

How does a man addicted to routine - a man who flosses his teeth before love-making - cope with the chaos of everyday life? With the loss of his son, the departure of his wife and the arrival of Muriel, a dog trainer from the Meow-Bow dog clinic, Macon's attempts at ordinary life are tragically and comically undone.

A heartfelt novel from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amateur Marriage and Breathing Lessons, now available as an audiobook.

Reviews

Her masterpiece

—— Daily Mail

Brilliant, funny, sad and sensitive

—— Independent on Sunday

Anne Tyler gets better with every book, and this one is a triumph – funny, profound, sad and ultimately reassuring

—— Sunday Telegraph

Warmly entertaining and sharply organised against cuteness or mush

—— Guardian

The Accidental Tourist is one of Anne Tyler’s best books

—— New York Times

A beautiful, incandescent, heartbreaking, exhilarating book… The Accidental Tourist cuts so close to the bone that it leaves one aching with pleasure and pain. Words fail me: one cannot reasonably expect fiction to be much better than this

—— Washington Post

Everything this author writes is shot through with intelligent insight, humour and humanity

—— Daily Mail

I’m inspired by every word that she writes

—— Woman & Home

Anne Tyler gets better with every book, and this one is a triumph - funny, profound, sad and ultimately reassuring

—— Sunday Telegraph

Now poignant, now funny... Anne Tyler is brilliant

—— New York Times Book Review

A vibrant and astonishing and, above all, achingly funny book

—— Cosmopolitan

My favourite writer, and the best line-and-length novelist in the world, is Anne Tyler

—— Nick Hornby

a mind-bending journey into the strange world of Spivet [...] Magical

—— Metro

The real star of the show is Reif Larsen, a first time American novelist...Some of the sly coming-of-age humour is reminiscent of Huckleberry Finn, but it is also very much a modern novel

—— Sunday Telegraph

An endearing and original coming-of-age story

—— Margaret Reynolds , The Times

A wilfully original and diverting book, full of carefully penned ephemera.

—— Tim Adams , Observer

The tale of map-obsessed outcast TS Spivet is captivating but it's the intricate illustrations - from the temperamental family toaster to the trajectory of his father's whiskey sips - that make this a rewardingly unique read.

—— Shortlist

Larsen's achievement is to have created a quirky, engaging, painfully vulnerable hero - not to mention a book that's truly lovely to look at, heavily illustrated throughout with examples of T.S.'s prize-winning maps and charts.

—— Daily Mail

Larsen's debut is engaging... plenty of intelligent perceptions, and a generous smattering of Spivet's drawings

—— Phil Baker , Sunday Times

The Selected Works of TS Spivet is a joy; a colourful feast of a book... few [books are] as bold as refreshing as Reif Larsen's debut... The account of [Spivet's] adventure is engrossing and full of allusions to classic American literature... There's a lovely hand-crafted quality to the book, and even in paperback form it is a beautiful object

—— David Evans , Independent on Sunday, Christmas round up

Has an eye, and ear, for music culture that few of even the best rock journalists can match

—— Socialist Unity

I’ve seen some reviews bill The Thrill of it All as being a book for anyone who’s dreamt of being a rock star, but I’d say it’s appeal is far wider than that: it’s for anyone who loves music — blues, ska, New Wave, punk and rock especially

—— Reading Matters

Humour and poignancy are woven into the fabric of this warm, well-crafted novel, all the way to its cathartic conclusion

—— Alastair Mabbott , Herald

a warm-hearted, funny and moving novel for anyone that’s ever loved a song

—— Irish Times

Some of the funniest, most tender moments are the exchanges between Robbie, the rebellious son, and his staid but loving father, Jim...less a tale of pop dissolution than of family

—— Observer

The key to Harkaway’s writing is the incredibly textured depth and imaginative characterisation. It is one of those books whose character are so rich that by the climax, you feel like they’ve penetrated your reality and you want to keep them close, even after the book is over.

—— Nudge

Original and exciting, full of humanity and comedy, Tigerman by Nick Harkaway is a beautiful piece of work

—— Morning Star

Original, exciting, full of humanity and comedy, Tigerman by Nick Harkaway is a beautiful piece of work.

—— Morning Star
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