Author:Robert Edric

'We must prise opinion from fact, belief from supposition and guesswork from whatever evidence must exist...'
It is surely a simple case of hysteria. Four young women allegedly witness a terrifying apparition while walking in the woods. Has the devil really revealed himself to them? Are they genuine victims of demonic possession? Or, as most suspect, is their purpose in claiming all of this considerably more prosaic?
The eyes of the country turn to a small Nottinghamshire town, where an inquiry is to be held. Everyone there is living through hard, uncertain times. The king is recently dead. It is a new century - a new world looking to the future. But here, in the ancient heart of England, an old beast stirs...
Four men must examine the substance of the girls' tales and decide their fate: a minister, a doctor, a magistrate, and Merritt, an investigator - a seemingly perfect blend of the rational, the sacred and the judicial. And yet, as the feverish excitement all around them grows ever more widespread and infectious, there is both doubt and conflict among the members of this panel.
The Devil's Beat explores the unforeseeable and unstoppable outcome of this inquiry during an alarming and unsettling time, when the whole of that small world seems in turmoil as, one after another, hitherto dependable natural checks and balances, beliefs and superstitions are challenged and then shattered.
A connoisseur of shadows, Edric is excellent on what is truly "devilish" in human beings
—— The Sunday TimesEdric is a novelist who makes his own rules and can't be compared with anyone else. The world he has made in this unsettling novel is both familiar and deeply weird; there's a genuine sense of menace beneath the hysteria and superstition
—— The TimesAnother brilliant offering from Edric
—— The LadyAn intriguing scenario which Edric develops with polish and intelligence, immersing himself in small-town Edwardian England
—— Daily MailHis eerily terse prose luxuriates in the hazy strangeness of the Danish landscape and is particularly brilliant at nailing adolescence as an inchoate, restless state in which life is felt much more fiercely than it is understood.
—— Claire Allfree , Mail on SundayLike an old photograph, it illuminates everything to a sudden point of clarity… Petterson’s writing is so evocative of life on the cusp of becoming a teenager that when I close the book, I go back to the beginning and I re-read… Echoland is a novel that tastes of the sea and the sun and of frightening and beautiful thunderstorms.
—— BookmunchArikawa has a lightness of touch that elevates this to a tale about loyalty and friendship ... while speaking to our basic human need for companionship
—— JOHN BOYNE , IRISH TIMESHeart-wrenching but uplifting
—— RED MAGAZINEThe Travelling Cat Chronicles is why I read books. This beautiful story has everything. It's funny, heart-warming, heart-breaking and kind.
—— FOREWORD BOOKSPrepare to have your heart strings tugged by this quirky tale . . . It's a deceptively gentle story that you won't need to be a cat lover to fall for.
—— SUNDAY MIRRORSweet, sad and lovely, this is a roadtrip novel with a difference
—— PSYCHOLOGIES MAGAZINEThis is the book I am giving everyone . . . the book I am recommending to anyone buying something Japan-related or cat-related, and, quite possibly, the book I am placing in someone's hand when they ask me what my favourite book is. For a bookseller, that is the highest accolade a book can ever receive
—— WATERSTONES YORKA beautiful travelogue
—— SYDNEY MORNING HERALDThis story of a cat, a man, self-sacrifice and friendship will have you totally captivated ... An addictive tale of friendship and love.
—— WOMAN'S WEEKLYi found myself sobbing ... unable, unwilling to let this joyful little book go
—— NPRStunningly beautiful. Tender, warm, sad and uplifting
—— THE LAST WORD REVIEWI would urge people not to dismiss this as a 'cat book'; it is too much about human interaction and relationships to be so simply defined. A novel with wide appeal. I predict it will make a popular Christmas gift.
—— READINGS, BOOK GUIDE, AUSTRALIAI'm not ashamed to say it had me at meow.
—— WASHINGTON POSTA book that stands out within the world of cat literature ... and it's a world worth exploring.
—— TIME MAGAZINEI found myself sobbing ... unable, unwilling, to let this little book go.
—— NPRThe Travelling Cat Chronicles is as much a loving tribute to Japan’s obsession with and reverence for cats as it is an endearing introduction for non-Japanese readers to the country’s ever-fascinating culture and deeply rooted traditions.
—— SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLEA book that speaks volumes about our need for connection - human, feline or otherwise.
—— SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLEThis touching novel of a brave cat and his gentle, wise human will resonate with lovers of animal tales, quiet stories of friendship, and travelogues alike.
—— PUBLISHERS WEEKLYGentle, soft-spoken, and full of wisdom
—— KIRKUS REVIEWSA delight to read
—— FINANCIAL TIMESPrepare to have your heartstrings tugged by this quirky tale
—— SUNDAY MIRRORA sprightly, digressive, intriguing fandango on life and time
—— Kirkus ReviewsThese individuals converge to confront each other in the big shabby house, like characters in a Chekhov play. At first, hellish implosion looms. Slowly, erratically, connection creeps in. Lux quietly mediates. Ire softens. Sophia at last eats something. Art resees Nature..."Winter" gives the patient reader a colorful, witty - yes, warming - divertissement
—— San Francisco ChronicleWith Iris and Lux as catalysts, scenes from Christmas past unfold, and our narrow views of Sophia and Art widen and deepen, filled with the secrets and substance of their histories, even as the characters themselves seem to expand. As in Sophia's case, for Art this enlargement is announced by a hallucination - "not a real thing," as Lux tells Iris, whose response speaks for the book's own expansive spirit: "Where would we be without our ability to see beyond what it is we're supposed to be seeing?"
—— The Minneapolis Star Tribune






