Author:Jacques Strauss

It's 1989, and in the dying years of the Apartheid regime, eleven-year-old Jack Viljee considers life to be simple. He has firm views on race (complex), politics (straightforward), poofdas (inoffensive), God (dangerous) and sex (bewildering). The son of an Afrikaans father and an English mother, wedged between a strident older and a favoured younger sister, Jack allies himself with the family's beloved maid, Susie.
But the Viljee household has been upset by the arrival of Percy, Susie's fifteen-year-old son. Percy - young, bored and full of rage - makes everything awkward and embarassing for Jack. After one particularly humiliating event, Jack betrays Susie. The world, it turns out, is not so simple.
Very, very funny... It is an utter delight, astute and knowing. Wonderful writing
—— Sarah Winman, author of WHEN GOD WAS A RABBITStrauss writes with poise and comic timing. His prose is formal and correct; he establishes a tone of laconic regret yet sustains a striking lightness of touch particularly in passages of dialogue...It is, above all, rich in symbols and subtexts
—— Eileen Battersby , Irish TimesSmart, charming, funny, highly astute and subtly political. A really terrific read
—— Douglas CouplandChoi wields her satirical blade at a host of targets...The real triumph of Hello Kitty Must Die is that it refuses to apologize for Fiona's behavior
—— Los Angeles TimesIrving's popularity is not too difficult to understand. His world really is the world according to everyone
—— TimeImmensely moving and shot through with wit, humour and sadness, this book is addictive
—— RedA premier storyteller, master of the tragiocomic and among the first rank of contemporary novelists
—— Los Angeles TimesIrving is peerless at presenting action, writing without a wasted second
—— Guardian[Raven is] a freak writer, he defies classification. In wilder moments he suggests a loose, lunatic collaboration of Trollope, Ouida and Waugh
—— ObserverCrammed with comedy, suspense and action
—— Daily MailRiley's prose often sings, and there are moments of sheer dazzling brilliance here
—— bendutton.blogspot.co.ukThere was another brilliant curio from Gwendoline Riley, Opposed Positions... Riley writes cool, faintly autobiographical novellas about enigmatic young women who drift, think and write; she wears her influences (Woolf, Fitzgerald, Camus) with impressive insouciance, and this is one of her best
—— Justine Jordan , Guardian[Riley] shows herself more than up to the job of writing the wasted hinterlands of the human heart
—— Anne Enright , GuardianClean, eminently readable prose and sometimes startling insights
—— Femke Colborne , Big IssueThe shifting, uncertain nature of human relationships – and their constant reinterpretation – is reflected in Riley’s understated prose, with moments of intense revelation thrown in like hand grenades.
—— Freya McClements , Irish TimesUtterly compelling and ruthlessly fascinating
—— Laurence Mackin , Irish TimesA thrilling story that also happens to be true, by a gifted young author... Binet manages it all with beautiful lucidity and...discreet storytelling mastery
—— James Lasdun , GuardianFresh, honest and exciting
—— Anthony Cummins , SpectatorHistorial fiction for grown-ups
—— Robert McCrum , ObserverA gripping thriller and a moving testament to the heroes of the Czechoslovakian resistance. Their mission resets the path of history. Binet’s resets the path of the historical novel. He has a bright, bright future.
—— David Annand , Sunday TelegraphBrilliant..
—— Sunday Times, StyleThrilling.
—— Killian Fox , ObserverAn engrossing literary experiment that still contains enough hard facts to function as a terrific yarn.
—— Andrzej Lukowski , MetroThrilling and engaging...Binet brilliantly builds the tension in the lead up to the assassination attempt, likewise the nerve-shredding aftermath of the incident.... Being so experimental yet so compelling as a writer is a real high-wire act, one only precious few authors have managed. Binet does it dazzlingly here, and I'm excited about what he's going to write next
—— Doug Johnstone , Big IssueMesmeric stuff; history brought to chilling, potent life
—— Leyla Sanai , Independent on SundayA literary tour de force
—— Alan Riding , Scotland on SundayBinet’s debut is a masterpiece of historical fiction… gripping read
—— Daily TelegraphA nail-biting novel, a thorough work of history and, most successfully of all, an exercise in form: a story about the writing of a true story
—— Lucy Kellaway , Financial TimesCompelling
—— Barry Egan , The Sunday IndependentBinet's approach may be new, but his story-telling instincts are nicely old fashioned. Translator Sam Wood does justice to the lucid prose
—— IndependentIs it a novel about the Nazis? Or is it a memoir about a historian trying to write about the Nazis? Somehow, it’s both – and it’s brilliant
—— William Leith , Evening StandardA triumph
—— Patrick Freyne , Irish TimesA must-read for people who have a real interest in the Third Reich … improbably entertaining and electrifyingly modern, a moving work
—— Royston CrowWith its slightly skewed perspective and the relative freshness of its approach, HHhH compels us once again to consider that this, surely, was humanity's lowest point: a war waged, not against those who thwarted Germany's territorial ambitions, but against all that was good and decent in the human soul. In so doing, it confounds those who would decry post-modernism as wilfully obscure, relativistic and lacking in conviction
—— Alastair Mabbott , HeraldFrench newcomer Laurent Binet hits the ground running in the engrossing novel within a novel
—— Sunday TelegraphA breezily charming novel, with a thrilling story that also happens to be true, by a gifted young author amusingly anguished over the question of how to tell it … In principle there's nothing not to like about Laurent Binet's acclaimed debut, and HHhH is certainly a thoroughly captivating performance
—— James Lasdun , GuardianThis book fully justifies the lavish praise adorning its author
—— Absolutely ChelseaDazzling... It's stunningly brilliant
—— Simon Shaw , Mail on SundayStunning
—— Donal O’Donoghue , RTE GuideBinet provides both context and impressive detail on the eventual assassination of Heydrich
—— Mark Perryman , Philosophy Footbal






