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The Backward Shadow
The Backward Shadow
Dec 4, 2025 6:02 PM

Author:Lynne Reid Banks

The Backward Shadow

Jane has had her baby and is living along with him in a country cottage. Her idyllic time there is soon complicated by the arrival of Toby, the love of her life, and her friend Dorothy. The two women start up a shop in the village, and it is their changing fortunes and feelings for the men on whom so much of their lives are staked which form the core of this funny and vivdly-told novel.

The Backward Shadow is a worthy sequel to The L-Shaped Room

Reviews

Characters so lively and believable they give the impression of wanting to jump right out of the page and run

—— Guardian

Lynne Reid Banks is one of the most readable, delightfull and accomplished novelists writing today

—— Edna O'Brien

Tremain has produced her own wondrous piece of gold

—— Scotsman

A fabulous work, bravely imaginative, deeply moving, surprising, invigorating and satisfying

—— Independent

This is a beautifully crafted book - at once a gripping adventure story and a compelling portrayal of human emotion at its bravest and its most vulnerable

—— Economist

The Colour is the produce of a large and generous talent, generous in its giving of enjoyment

—— Financial Times

An engrossing novel, an adventure story with a sensitive side

—— Observer

The Colour is a measured book, a diligent, painstaking book

—— Sunday Telegraph

She is a magical storyteller - it is as an artist that she excels

—— New Statesman

Brilliantly detailed and textured

—— Daily Mail

Tremain is the finest of historical fiction writers

—— Gloss

It's uncommonly well written, with a bountiful supply of manic energy... Would Paul Auster kill to write a book as playful, fast-paced and unashamedly populist as this? Doubtful, but somewhere there's a "Paul Auster" who might

—— Alastair Mabbott , Herald

Sparky debut

—— Jonathan Barnes , Literary Review

Benedictus takes us on a trail of the contentious highs and lows of the rich and famous in a mixture of dark humour and sharp dialogue. For Benedictus, and his valiant debut novel, more of the same please

—— Ben Bookless , Big Issue

The story of the ultimate celeb after-party, it's a knowing wink at publishing and celebrity culture - a high-concept first novel sitting just the right side of salacious

—— Elle

The Afterparty avoids smugness partly because it has more affection that vitriol for the culture that it mocks... It's very funny, but sad, too... Well-drawn characters, smart dialogue and a canny plot

—— Anthony Cummins , The Times
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