Hugely influential... A classic adventure yarn about a dinosaur-infested South American plateau...The irascible Professor Challenger - Doyle's own favourite among all his characters - blusters his way through with his Assyrian beard and booming voice

A science fiction masterpiece

Conan Doyle gives Jules Verne a run for his money

A brilliantly entertaining story of old-fashioned derring-do

A wonderfully written book which I loved as a child. I have dreamt of playing its central character Professor Challenger ever since. I feel Conan Doyle's story has many salutary lessons for mankind and that when we visit lost lands we should do our best to leave no footprints

I loved it. Qualities and shades of love are this writer's strong suit, and she has the unusual talent for writing about them with so much truth and heart that one is carried away on a tidal wave of involvement and concern

Engrossing - compassionate and tense.

The book is a fantastically entertaining and witty read, following the lives of three young women, Caroline, Gregg, and April working on the New York publishing scene as they search for love while trying to succeed in the metropolis ... the book's portrait of young women at a vibrant stage in their life, their excitement, fun, struggles and friendships in the city, is accurate and timeless. A fabulous summer novel best consumed poolside with a cigarette and martini

There is an old-fashioned feeling to this readable and well-written novel

Boyne's twinning of the subjects of homosexuality and conscientious objection is inspired

Boyne skillfully draws a thread through from sexual to moral to social shame... he tells a good story

A really enjoyable, if rather sad, read, full of historical and human interest

Felix Quinn, the narrator of the book...explains it beautifully - and this is a very good novel... Feeling unsafe makes him feel alive. And loss, of course, is the wellspring of good storytelling

The Act of Love is an ambitious and at times extremely uncomfortable novel

It is an almost frighteningly brilliant achievement. Why did the Booker judges not recognise it?

This is a very good novel

Jacobson's 10th novel is a moving, thought-provoking and darkly witty story of desire and love