Marvelous... With a courage that is sometimes breathtaking... (Greenberg) makes a faultless series of discriminations between the justifications for living in an evil and complex reality and the justifications for retreating into the security of madness

A rare and wonderful insight into the dark kingdom of the mind

Intensely moving

Impressive . . . Pine explores with great acuity and tenderness the restorative, capacious nature of love. A wise and lovely book

Pine makes her chapters playful, writing with a friendly curiousness that brings to mind Ali Smith . . . Pine's measured yet tender juxtaposition of the women's days doesn't draw overly neat parallels so much as prove that one needs the other - younger needs older, optimist needs pessimist, introvert needs extrovert. And our opposites might help us find clarity

[Ruth & Pen] finds heartbreaking beauty in our everyday lives . . . There is a real tenderness in the way in which Pine writes about the teenage girls in the novel

Pine reinforces her reputation as one of the most empathetic writers in the country

There's no doubting the novel's basic integrity; its warmth, its undogmatic interest in ordinary lives, and the impressive range of its imaginative sympathies

Moving and raw . . . Pine's ability to enter the heads of two such different characters is a sure sign of literary promise

This book is an intimate portrait of love and grief, and the tender, fragile courage required just to live each day

A confident walk through the lives of others, two women seeking their place in the world and a peace in themselves

An engulfing, bighearted, and heartbreaking novel. Illuminates the shocking injustices suffered in the 1800s, and in doing so, makes us stop and consider how much of that cruelty and injustice survives to this day

A sweeping adventure of identity, love, and belonging

Brilliant and devastating. Weaving together myth and history, it is both timeless and utterly necessary right now

An instant and necessary classic, easily among the best novels of this decade. The story lingers long after its final pages

An exhilarating rush of character, history, and storytelling. This unforgettable novel dazzles

Biting and very funny

A compelling page-turner rendered in exquisite prose

Whip-smart and thoughtful with a dark vein of humour. Compulsively readable. I loved it

An important novel . . . Jo Harkin does a masterful job . . . this mind-bending debut will certainly make you think

A terrific read - I enjoyed it tremendously

Jo Harkin has created a speculative novel which digs into our instinctual curiosity and our need to know everything

Filled with delightful characters... this heart-warming book explores relationships and the dilemmas of everyday life

Tackling many relevant issues, it's a heart-warming read

Poignant, totally joyful, this is a great read

A feel-good read, with great characters to care about, it takes current issues seriously but adds plenty of humour

[It leaves] the reader with that fuzzy feeling you want from a feel-good book. Fans of her previous hit, The Authenticity Project, will not be disappointed

A feel-good tale about the power of real-life connections

You can always rely on Pooley to deliver not just wonderful, lively characters but a story that leaves you feeling uplifted and hopeful