Beautifully written and full of love

A moving and intriguing debut novel

A lovely, sad and heart-breaking story that hits you on subtle levels provoking big reactions, deep thoughts and emotions. A fantastic debut novel.

It has the potential to change your life

The Dead Wife's Handbook is filled with emotion, raw and real, which will no doubt be the tearjerker of the year

So many times I have heard people talk about how a book has changed their life and just thought 'that's ridiculous' but now I truly understand that saying

A real celebration of love, life and the human spirit

One of the most beautiful portrayals of grief I will probably ever read

A compelling and beautifully written account of . . . the grieving process. An emotional and yet uplifting read

It is certainly an emotional journey, but one that is so adeptly delivered, that makes you feel more alive and grateful for having experienced it

If this story doesn't pierce your heart and leave you looking at your nearest and dearest in sheer wonderment then, I'm sorry, but you have failed to appreciate the depth of emotion contained within its pages

A tale of grief told from a unique perspective, beautifully written, heartfelt and impassioned, this one will have you reaching for the tissues - some of those tears will be happy ones

Really tugged at my heartstrings and . . . kept me captivated throughout

The Dead Wife's Handbook is one of the best and most original books I've ever read. It's deep, emotional and thought-provoking

A spellbinding story which I couldn't put down

The Dead Wife's Handbook is a captivating story that will take you on an emotional journey

Joyce’s last novel The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry was a wonderful story of an older man walking across England to say goodbye to a dying friend. It was spoken of fondly in book clubs and in reviews and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. In Perfect, Joyce has created an excellent follow up.

A cleverly-plotted tale, it is moving yet unsentimental. Sure to delight Joyce fans who made The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry a best-seller.

With Perfect, Joyce wrings another rewarding tale out of the little tragedies of life

Rachel Joyce's first novel, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, won both commercial success and wide critical acclaim (it was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize). She may just repeat the trick with Perfect, a mixture of comedy and drama in much the same vein... this is a novel with the capacity to both surprise and charm.

Out of the smallest, most delicate building blocks, Rachel Joyce gradually builds a towering sense of menace. She understands people, in all their intricacy and vulnerability, in a way few writers do. Perfect is a poignant and powerful book, rich with empathy and charged with beautiful, atmospheric writing.

Intriguing and suspenseful... Joyce, showing the same talent for adroit plot development seen in the bestselling The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, brings both narrative strands together in a shocking, redemptive denouement.

[Joyce's] sympathetically realised characters are people living on the edge, whether of loneliness, poverty or mental illness, and despite its underlying sadness, the book ends with the presage of hope.

A moving and original novel... it confirms [Joyce] as one of the most interesting voices in British fiction

A rewarding, multi-layered novel with empathy for disturbed mental states and, towards the end, a clever fast-forwarding 30 years.

Rachel Joyce's new novel is simply Perfect.

[Joyce] triumphantly returns with PERFECT…As Joyce probes the souls of Diane, Byron, and Jim, she reveals – slowly and deliberately, as if peeling back a delicate onion skin – the connection between the two stories, creating a poignant, searching tale.”

In alternating chapters, these two stories set 40 years apart frame Joyce’s exquisitely played novel of tragedy and mental illness and the kind of wrenching courage unique to those who suffer from the latter and yet battle to overcome it. As in her brilliant debut, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Joyce stuns with her beautifully realized characters and the unexpected convergence of her two tales.

Perfect touches on class, mental illness, and the ways a psyche is formed or broken. It has the tenor of a horror film, and yet at the end, in some kind of contortionist trick, the narrative unfolds into an unexpected burst of redemption. Buy It.

Joyce flings “Perfect’s” characters into chaotic situations fraught with misgivings and confusion ... Diana’s descent into terror is provocative enough to carry this story, but Joyce complements it with a contemporary one about an equally fragile man named Jim who has spent most of his life in a facility for the mentally ill. His connection to Diana will surprise many readers as Joyce spins this equally compelling subplot toward its shocking revelations and conclusion.

Better than The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry... touching [and] eccentric.

Ambitious, dark and honest