Styron has brought to bear on the experience of the Afro-American his penetrating intelligence and his immense skills in creating character, writing dialogue and confronting explosive themes

Immensely powerful and compelling

Magnificent...It is one of those rare books that show us our American past, our present - ourselves - is a dazzling shaft of light...A triumph

This elegant novel imagines the final weeks of Noel Coward after he has retired…Jenkins’ Coward is clever and cantankerous to the end

Beautifully observed

Quietly witty and remarkable in portraying the slipping away of mind and body that comes with old age

Firefly shimmers with all the passion and transcience of life

Jenkins shows she has a gift for tender comedy

A moving study

I can think of no better companion than Janette Jenkins' pitch-perfect reimagining of a regret-tinged twilight of Noel Coward's life

A study in melancholy, very well observed

Perfectly-tuned imagining… Jenkins’ telling of it...saves it from any hint of predictability

Jenkins’s prose is thoughtful and sensitive…and her depiction of Coward’s final stage performance, which was a disaster, is particularly insightful

As broad and panoramic as ever.

There are some dazzling satirical riffs and politically incorrect laughs.

Wolfe’s prose is as punchy as ever.

Energetically set against the deco licentiousness of Florida’s steamiest party capital.

Class, family, wealth and corruption are all themes in this examination of life in Miami.

[Tells] us about the way we live now... enjoyable.

Classic Wolfe. A delight

Epic, hectic, satirical… It’s scathing, funny, and has great set-piece scenes

Contemporary Miami gets the Wolfe treatment in a grand, sweeping satire on race, class, lust and immigration

Wonderful

Parks is one of the best living writers of English, and this book is so good you don't want it to end

If, like me, you relish Italy, railways and grumbling, this is the most transporting book

A fun, informative and detailed journey