Bowen is "the link that connects Virginia Woolf with Iris Murdoch and Muriel Spark."

Ironic comedy as well as tragedy, The Death of the Heart tells a story as old as wickedness: the world's betrayal of innocence

Bowen had a genius for conveying the reader straight into the most powerful and complex regions of the heart

Kristian’s sequel to his acclaimed Arthurian novel Lancelot is, in some ways, even better than the first book . . . evokes post-Roman Britain in a masterly fashion, totally immersing the reader into the dank, misty, marshlands of hounded Britons and brutal Saxon invaders; of Merlin’s twisty, amoral magic and the raw, skinned-knuckle courage of the warrior trapped in the bloody crush of the shield wall. It is, in short, a triumph. Highly recommended, especially to fans of Bernard Cornwell’s seminal Warlord Chronicles.

Adventure, intrigue and love abound in this retelling of a tale that is veiled in myth and legend . . . Kristian's writing weaves a spell on the reader as surely as Merlin at the height of his powers. Kristian has done it again. Camelot is a wonderful book.

Camelot gave me one-hell of a punch. It contained some of the best writing in historical-fiction today and completely knocked me off my feet. It had the emotion and intimacy of Lancelot, just with something more. A phenomenal read.

Giles Kristian has set himself a rather monumental task. Namely, how do you follow a novel like LANCELOT - surely already a classic in the Arthurian canon and one of those books that leaves you with your head swimming and your heart thumping long after you’ve read the last word? His monumental answer is: CAMELOT . . . an immense achievement . . . together, these two novels represent something altogether more monumental. Nothing short of a new milestone in British myth-making. It deserves to be an instant classic and I’d bet my last arm-ring that it will be.

After finishing Lancelot, I had my doubts whether Camelot could have the same impact on me, whether it could captivate and enchant me in the same way. I needn’t have feared. Kristian once again works his sorcery, and weaves a superb blend of high fantasy and historical fiction, enriched by luscious prose . . . herein lies the beauty of Camelot, it is a book where the past hauntingly mirrors the present.

Camelot sees the storytelling brilliance of Giles Kristian reach for and attain new heights . . . this duology for me is now the go-to Arthurian tale, surpassing Bernard Cornwell’s . . . it truly is a classic.

A wonderfully crafted novel . . . a good book is one that will take you through a range of emotions, from laughter to tears, and that will – when you get to the final page – leave you bereft that there is no more to read, and disappointed that you know you will not read anything so good any time soon. Camelot fills all these criteria. It surprises you at every turn. It is probably the best book I will read this year – and it’s only April!

Just brilliant . . . I loved this book. From the prose, to characters, to action sequences. Everything in this book is brilliant. That is partly due to my love for anything Arthurian, but it is also due to the intricate and powerful story Giles Kristian has magically created.

Enright is quick, knowing, enjoyably sharp... There are leaps of joy in Actress... It sparkles with light, rapid, shrugging wit; cliches are skewered in seconds… The magic of pre-war touring players, holding audiences rapt in country halls, is richly done.

This book could easily, and mistakenly, be lumped together with other #MeToo novels; work that seems to feed the patriarchy rather than challenge it. Enright, sensibly, doesn’t care if she has your sympathy – she’s too cold, too sharp…so effective. No one understands rage, or the lucid, bleached moments that follow it, better than Enright… If these stories took a physical form, I imagine they would be a well-dressed woman screaming into a silk pillowcase. Which is to say, I love them.

Actress by Anne Enright is a brilliant, lyrical, powerful novel... It's dazzlingly sharp and unnervingly intimate.

Anne Enright's Actress is up there as one of my favourites this year.

Enright focuses on the complexities of human connection… gradually the subtleties form into something profound and complex…witty and really rather brilliant.

Actress is yet another typically luminous story from Irish author Anne Enright… a raw, tender portrayal of a woman undone by her work, and the men who control it. Seamlessly wrought, it is quite bewitching.

Anne Enright has an unmistakable diction and a genius for arresting detail. Her novel, a daughter’s account of her once-famous actress mother’s life, is a many-sided thing… Actress is especially good in its evocation of an Ireland and a Dublin that is vanished, highly developed in civility and language, voracious for gossip, sociable, religious, hypocritical, louche, drunken and with a sensitivity to the nuances of speech.

The narrative dances through plays, boozing and parties… Enright dwells, intriguingly, on passivity, a state common in acting, womanhood and living in Ireland… a winning read.

Actress is a remarkably positive story of female creativity, courage, survival and love… a tour de force of half-concealed effects and slow-burning revelations that splutter suddenly into flame.

Brilliantly and delightfully done… [Actress] is always interesting, and…very enjoyable.

[A] literary force to be reckoned with... [Anne Enright] is one of Ireland's most significant authors - and Actress will be a must-read for many in 2020.

A delicate, knotty reflection on familial relationships… brilliant.

Another compelling effort filled with Enright’s trademark psychological insight.

Absorbing… Enright’s prose is so beautiful that even the shadows are graced with flickers of light… Actress is an elegant novel.

A warm and generous portrait of a relationship between a daughter and her famous mother… skilfully interwoven with Norah’s own story, and the twists and turns of her own life and marriage.

Gripping drama and a pitch-perfect evocation of the stages of Seventies Dublin and London’s West End.

A potent brew of fame, sexual power, hypocrisy and bad men.

A powerful novel.

Actress is a fabric of musings… The characters in Enright’s novels are absorbing because they seem recognisable in an unassuming way: they’re as lovely, boring and complex as the people outside the books.

Enright, herself a former actress, captures all the comedy and pathos that comes from living the strange, unreal life of an actor.

A raw, tender portrayal of a woman undone by her work, and the men who control it. Seamlessly wrought, it is quite bewitching.

Actress is a poignant tale of the vicissitudes of fame and its effects on the loved ones of the famous.

Compelling.

The next stage in an illustrious writing career… stuffed full of dark wit, memorable lines and striking images.

Enright is to Dublin as Didion is to California.

I've just started reading Anne Enright's Actress. I very much enjoyed her previous novel, The Green Road. This one has glorious lines even in the opening pages.

I would definitely recommend Actress by Anne Enright, it is her at her very best.

Few reviews said how absolutely hilarious [Actress] is. Enright skewers beautifully those creepy provincial aesthetes of Dublin of the sixties and seventies.

Enright is formidable in combining the concrete detail of lives – think of the extraordinary array of sibling portraits in her last novel, The Green Road – with an acute understanding of the inchoate lives of families: the push and pull of loyalty; the projection of desires; the smothering of disappointment and unhappiness. Here she conjures [a] rollicking story.

A rich, impressively imagined work about a stage and screen star who may never have existed but seems considerably more human than many real-life figures as seen through their own eyes or those of any but the finest biographers.

This story is about mothers and daughters, but also secrets in families and women in Ireland. It's an easy read, with a quintessentially Irish tone... It's brilliant.

Anne Enright's brilliant novel is a darkly glittering account of the cost to both the mother and her daughter of Katherine's complicated fame.

A gem from a former Booker winner.

Anne Enright['s]...writing is simply glorious. Comedy and tragedy in one.