Author:Henri Alain-Fournier,Valerie Lester
When Augustin Meaulnes arrives in François' home, he changes everything. Life in the little town where they both go to school suddenly becomes far more adventurous and exciting. On one of his escapades, Meaulnes gets lost in the countryside finds himself at an extraordinary party where he meets the girl of his dreams. From this point on he is haunted by her memory and devotes his life, with François' willing help, to finding her again.
It has captured the hearts, and fantasies, of generations of adolescents and lingered on their bookshelves, and in their souls, well into middle age...a tale of enchantment. It is, above all, a fairy tale, one imbued with the beauties of the French countryside, an eerie, charged nostalgia and all the yearnings of the budding Bohemian soul
—— IndependentA bewitching tale of adolescence, love, adventure and the mysterious spaces in between
—— Sunday TimesOne of the most romantic, elegiac novels of adolescence ever written...resounds with not only the unfulfilled promise of the writer and his fictional alter ego but also that of a generation
—— Sunday TelegraphIt is an extraordinary book, part fairytale or romance, part realistic study of French provincial life, sometimes grim, in the last years of the 19th century; and some of its fascination comes from this curiously hybrid quality. It is both naive and knowing. It has the dewy freshness of a first novel, but it is also admirably constructed
—— SpectatorIntense, perfectly capturing that interval between childhood and the adult world
—— Rosie ThomasA little masterpiece...irresistible
—— Sunday ExpressAfter 150 years still have the power to fascinate readers
—— Contemporary ReviewBeautifully written and this re-designed cover is stunning
—— Devon LifeI'm a huge fan. Wodehouse writes proper jokes.
—— Jennifer SaundersTo dive into a Wodehouse novel is to swim in some of the most elegantly turned phrases in the English language.
—— Ben SchottOne jaw-droppingly powerful, courageous and original fiction debut...As a 10th work of fiction this would be impressive; as a debut, it is remarkable
—— Sunday TelegraphHands down the best fictional debut we have read this year
—— Dazed & ConfusedFor the imagery alone and for the sentences, the book would be a treasure, but the story it tells - the story of the suicide of the author's father - has an immediacy and sharpness made all the more special by the tone of distance in the narrative and the beauty of the writing
—— Colm Toibin, Observer books of the yearDavid Vann's Legend of a Suicide is brave, fantastically well written, and completely defies categorisation
—— Julie Myerson, Daily Telegraph books of the yearFrom the shores of Vann's Alaska one can see the Russia of Turgenev's Fathers and Sons ... 'A father, after all,' Vann writes, 'is a lot for a thing to be.' A son is also a lot for a thing to be; so is an artist. With Legend of a Suicide David Vann proves himself a fine example of both
—— New York Times...a gripping fantasy thriller that will please all the older Harry Potter fans out there
—— Yours MagazineJonathan Littell veers between brilliance and bathos...
—— Sally Cousins , The TelegraphGrotesque, dismaying, chilling in its focus on the fine detail of barbarism, this epic of evil is also addictively readable
—— Boyd Tonkin , Independent on SundayCompelling... utterly engaging... for anyone whose interest in his subjects is great to enough to bear their unflinching portrayal The Kindly Ones is an essential novel
—— Chris Power , The TimesIt's an amazing picture of evil, wonderfully written (and very well translated from the original French by Charlotte Mandell), and left me feeling as though I had supped with the damned
—— Jane Knight , The Times