Author:John Banville,Adam Phillips

The Book of Evidence, shortlisted for the Booker prize in 1989 and The Sea, which won the Booker prize in 2005, take us into the hauntingly confused worlds of two ageing male protagonists - washed- up scientist Freddie Montgomery, desperate to explain why he is being held in an Irish prison for murder (The Book of Evidence) and recently widowed art historian Max Morden, who has returned to a sleepy seaside boarding house to relive the events of his first adolescent awakenings (The Sea). With spellbinding virtuosity, Banville piles ambiguity upon ambiguity to construct tense tales of sex, betrayal and self-deception, which keep us turning the page, while questioning our own certainties about memory and identity. In both works, the acclaimed Irish novelist is revealed at his masterful best, conjuring dark wit, suspense and drama from the stunning lyrical beauty of his near-perfect prose.
Ireland's finest contemporary novelist.
—— The EconomistThoughtful, agile, erudite... [Howe] has a knack for sound and rhyme so delicious you want to say the lines aloud just to feel your tongue around them. And sprinkled throughout are minute observations that make the everyday seem magic. After reading Loop of Jade, the world seems larger and more nuanced than ever before, one of the most wonderful experiences I’ve had reading a contemporary poetry collection. Howe more than holds her own among the heavyweights in a memorable year for new poetry, a year in which poets took our accepted ideas of race, heritage and tradition and blew them wide open.
—— Charlotte Runcie , Daily TelegraphAbsolutely amazing... Sarah Howe's Loop of Jade shone with its startling exploration of gender and injustice through place and identity, its erudition, and powerful imagery as well as her daring experiment with form. She brings new possibilities to British poetry.
—— Pascale Petit, chair of the T.S. Eliot Prize judgesMature and accomplished... Loop of Jade is one of the best first collections I've read in recent years
—— Poetry ReviewRich and fierce, Sarah Howe’s poems are alive to the complex stories and voices that cohere around objects, family and place. This is a magnificent collection, surprising and moving in equal measure – I loved it.
—— Edmund de WaalA wonderful first collection – it isn’t often you can say exquisite, original, erudite and adventurous all in one breath. Sarah Howe goes to the very heart of her own, her mother’s and China’s recent past.
—— Ruth PadelSarah Howe's soulful poems are as vivid as a river flowing through the Chinese landscape, as alive as mothers calling to their children.
—— Xinran, author of The Good Women of ChinaA glittering debut exploring dual British and Chinese heritage with beauty and wit
—— Charlotte Runcie , Daily Telegraph, Editor's ChoiceThe poems in Loop of Jade…move me in profound and previously unimaginable ways
—— Emma Lee Moss , Guardian[A] sinuous, shimmering, mirage-like debut collection
—— Roger Cox , ScotsmanRemarkable.
—— John Walsh , IndependentThe poems literally glisten… The evocative and unique poems are a joy.
—— Michael Conaghan , Belfast Telegraph[Howe] shows that new voices can still carry their own unique freight of subtle music married to acute intelligence..
—— William Boyd , Guardian[An] exquisite first collection… With extraordinary range and power, the poems build into a meditation on hybridity, intermarriage and love… An unmistakable new voice in British poetry.
—— Asian Art Newspaper, Book of the YearHumour with style and heart . . . You'll have a new appreciation for your office drama after meeting these nightmare colleagues
—— Best Books of Summer, GlamourThis is what it's really like working at a glossy, New York fashion magazine. Makes The Devil Wears Prada look like My Little Pony
—— Toby Young, bestselling author of How to Lose Friends and Alienate PeopleFunny, fashionable, fabulous - my beach read pick for the summer!
—— Jane GreenThis Years The Devil Wears Prada
—— Vanity FairAtkinson follows up her Costa Award-winning Life After Life with a dazzling novel about the genteel Todd family… The narrative is less slippery, but no less compelling.
—— PeopleA riveting exploration of the complexities of family life
—— PsychologiesKate Atkinson's understanding of how we work is off the scale
—— Sainsbury's MagazineIf you were blown away by Life After Life, you'll be dazzled by this companion piece...an extraordinary tour de force.
—— Woman and HomeAn engrossing read by any standards. One that kept me up late at night to discover what would happen next.
—— Irish IndependentA masterpiece of storytelling and a master class in how fiction works. It's also incredibly, surprisingly funny. It's my current death row book. If I was only allowed one last read,this would be it.
—— Cathy Rentzenbrink , StylistOne of Britain’s most accomplished novelists.
—— Ed Cumming , ObserverAn ingenious and atmospheric novel.
—— Simon Shaw , Mail on SundayLawrence Osborne is an experienced, competent author with an impressive knowledge of Asia… Comparisons with Graham Greene seem to be generously offered by other reviewers and I’ve already alluded to Conrad and a Patricia Highsmith yet my impression is that Mr. Osborne has a style all of his own.
—— Gill Chedgey , NudgeEnright has delivered a fine work about how you can’t escape the past.
—— John Dennehy , National[A] wonderful book.
—— Woman’s WayThe novel of [Enright’s] already storied career.
—— Irish CentralWith language so vibrant it practically has a pulse, Enright makes an exquisitely drawn case for the possibility of growth, love and transformation at any age.
—— People MagazineNo-one quite matches Enright for her quality of writing, her deftness of insight.
—— Neil Stewart , CivilianThis is a captivating, spellbinding evocation of how your nearest and not-so-dearest can wreak emotional havoc.
—— PsychologiesGlitteringly good.
—— Kerry Fowler , Sainsbury’s MagazineThe Green Road has been receiving glowing reviews and it's easy to see why. The story, set over four decades, gives us deep insights into the five main characters, all of whom tell us something about ourselves as Irish people, and all of whom you are sorry to leave as a reader.
—— Edel Coffey , Irish IndependentEnright is the most extraordinary writer – her style is simple and honest, no gimmicks, just straight to the heart.
—— Victoria Hislop , Sainsbury’s MagazineA powerful evocation of leaving and returning home.
—— Ruth Scurr , Financial TimesMasterful.
—— Fiona Wilson , The TimesWatch out for it come Man Booker time.
—— Sunday TimesEnright captures beautifully the tensions of…forced festive gatherings, the sibling rivalry and the maternal melancholy of a woman who does not understand her feelings towards her own children.
—— Good Book GuideRichly and sensuously realised, it’s vivid with the particularity of places and people and bruisingly intelligent.
—— Tessa Hadley , GuardianEnright shows real insight and perception when it comes to family relationships. It’s a well-structured and well-paced narrative.
—— Mandy Jenkinson , NudgeWritten with raw and brutal honesty, this is one to savour.
—— Justine Carbery , Irish IndependentEnright’s writing is sharp and lucid and full of beautiful phrases and descriptions.
—— Reading MattersI love Enright’s style and the spidering out of the siblings’ lives.
—— Claire Skinner , Daily ExpressThere is beauty and darkness, hypocrisy and humility; it wouldn’t be an Irish novel without them.
—— Sarah Churchwell , New StatesmanThe Green Road, about one Irish family, confronts all that is essential: love, death, mothers and our own flawed selves. It is written with a kind of tenderness, beauty and insight that transmogrifies humdrum experience into the epiphanic and back again.
—— Arifa Akbar , IndependentBlisteringly funny and keenly perceptive.
—— Peter Kemp , Sunday TimesDeeply affecting, crackling with wit, and consistently magnificent.
—— Stephanie Cross , Daily MailA globe-trotting, kaleidoscopic portrait of Irish siblings and their difficult mother.
—— Justine Jordan , GuardianA magnificent novel about family and belonging told in stark yet sparkling prose.
—— StylistA fierce, funny, loosely woven family saga.
—— Alex Preston , Observer[A] darkly glinting novel of family life.
—— Ruth Scurr , The SpectatorA bravura example of shifting voices and perspectives, all of which benefit from Enright’s splendid prose and careful restraint.
—— Sarah Churchwell , New StatesmanEnright dissects [her character’s] foibles with warmth, wit and a bracing lack of sentimentality.
—— Simon Kuper , Financial TimesA book you don’t put down until it is finished, dragging you right into the heart of another Irish family as only Anne Enright can.
—— Keelin Shanley , Irish TimesA family saga, beginning with intense and beautifully detailed character studies.
—— Mark O'Halloran , Irish TimesI... enjoyed The Green Road for the dialogue, the clever narrative structure, and the gnarled, contemporary sense of family values.
—— Paul Durcan , Irish TimesI could not put it down. Chapter two is a masterpiece.
—— Edna O'Brien , Irish TimesStylish prose that charts the fortunes and misfortunes of this family over a period of 25 years.
—— Anne O'Neill , Irish TimesIn this brilliant, captivating novel, the poised, impossible and always disappointed matriarch Rosaleen Madigan makes life difficult for her children at a Christmas gathering.
—— Charlotte Heathcote , Sunday ExpressFew Novelists pick apart domestic relationships with the poetry and precision of Anne Enright.
—— Claire Allfree , MetroSharp yet oh so subtle storytelling […] this is an author at the height of her formidable powers.
—— Stephen Meyler , RTE GuideAn exquisitely written portrait of a family, and a country, on the cusp of enormous change.
—— Paul Nolan , Hot PressExquisitely written and hugely enjoyable.
—— NationalA brilliant approach to the sadness of a disconnected family, who are like satellites out of sync.
—— Anthony Cummins , Sunday TelegraphEnright’s virtuosic tale of an Irish family- the Madigans- across continents and decades withholds closure but doesn’t skimp on pleasure
—— five stars , Daily TelegraphA compelling novel, full of astute observations, beautifully written, sometimes stark and other times aching with longing
—— Collette Sheridan , Irish ExaminerThe sweep of the book and Anne Enright's way fo pulling this global migratuon story together with such energy and detail puts her in somewhere beside Toni Morrison
—— Independent, IrelandHeart-wrenching novel… The surgical precision of Enright’s writing makes you feel that she can, in Wordsworth’s words, “see into the life of things”. There is a singing simplicity to it that tugs at your heart…A masterly work.
—— Christina Patterson , Sunday TimesBeautifully observed. Enright is a great writer.
—— William Leith , Evening StandardBold and brilliant.
—— The WeekIncredible… I’m totally captivated.
—— Annie Mac , The Sunday TimesAn evocative story about family ties and belonging.
—— Western Morning NewsA brilliant read.
—— Western Morning NewsA story of fracture and family, selfishness and compassion.
—— SheerLuxe.comSharply funny portrait of an Irish family meeting for a final Christmas.
—— MetroWithin pages I was wrapped in the warmth of Enright’s prose… This is a beautiful book… Enright is unquestionably a fantastic writer who, for me with this novel, conjured up the world of a family with all its highs and lows that felt like they might be having this reunion down the end of your road… Enright does two of my favourite things in fiction. She makes the ordinary, and everything we take for granted, seem extra ordinary. She also gives voices to those who have not been able to share their tales… The writing is stunning.
—— Simon Savidge , Savidge ReadsAn evocative story about family ties and belonging. Anne Enright is deservedly a well-respected writer.
—— Western Morning NewsEnright's novels are fantastically well-crafted, eloquent and funny… Each character is beautifully realized… She finds unexpected adjectives, brilliantly exact description, the spot-on emotion. Her writing is lyrical but always unsentimental. There is pleasure in reading every paragraph, and an enormous wisdom throughout the pages.
—— MumsnetTruly wonderful… The dialogue is particularly brilliant… It completely envelops you in the story and will leave you wanting more.
—— Belfast Telegraph MorningWonderful… The dialogue is particularly brilliant, capturing all the barbed snappiness of dinner with siblings.
—— HeraldI fell headfirst into the beautifully written prose of this novel, so authentic and charming in its telling of one Irish family over more than two decades. Each vibrant character gets a turn in almost short stories of their own that feel almost like entities in their own right. I adored it.
—— Cathy Levy , Red OnlineA resonant, masterly work.
—— Sunday Times[An] exceptional novel.
—— David Nicholls , GuardianThis is a flawless book, it’s utterly flawless… It has just touched so many other readers. This book is heartbreaking… A beautiful examination of unhappy families… The power of Anne’s writing is you all see a reflection of your own family…it’s tender and it’s beautiful and deserves to be widely read.
—— Victoria SadlerEnright is undoubtedly one of our most prominent novelists
—— Elif Shafak , Week






