The Midwife's Daughter is warm and wise, heart- breakingly sad and yet somehow uplifting too.I've been a big fan of Patricia Ferguson for many years - and I think this is her finest novel yet.

A masterfully detailed, compassionate and enthralling story, rich in surprising revelations and beautifully plotted.

She is precisely the kind of writer whose novels you'd expect to find advertised on tube billboards and selling in the hundred thousands - plotty, emollient, fluent, concerned with relationships and what fosters or thwarts them, and capable of making you root for the characters

Strong, affecting, vividly depicted . . . It is a pure pleasure to read

One of the most brilliant novelists around . . . funny, gripping, wonderfully shrewd

Moving seamlessly between characters, she shines light on barely-conscious thoughts and feelings to great, often ironic effect . . . a sympathetic, psychologically acute and thoroughly involving tale

Hugely enjoyable, classic storytelling

Ferguson should be better known . . . she draws on years of experience working as a nurse and midwife to produce acute, skilful descriptions

Dodger is a book filled with kindness and wisdom. The reason I feel the need to point this out is that it is so rare. The story practically oozes kindness.

Dodger is a hero who Dickens would love . . . You can't help loving Dodger as he ducks, dives, falls in love and rises in the Victorian world. This is a hero I can't wait to meet again.

Much as I love the Discworld series I also enjoy it when Terry Pratchett takes a break and gives his readers something else . . . Pratchett has the ambience of 1840s London spot on

Fine plot, excellent characters, and fun to read.

Dodger is an amazing book . . . It creates a great display of historical London, contrasting the above ground cleanliness against the below ground filthy and often-times rotten sewers. Add in a lively set of support characters, funny dialogue, great action, and finish it all off with Dodger, one of the most lovable characters that I have read about.

Compulsively readable

Escape into Pratchett’s humorous and mysterious world and follow Dodger’s infamous trail through a tale where history and fantasy are entwined.

Terry Pratchett fans should not miss Dodger, his sassy take on Oliver Twist

A rollicking good yarn

Dodger’s descriptions of the capital, from its slums and sewers to the homes of the middle classes and the bolt holes of the elite, paint a vivid, immersive picture. The attention to detail in both the break-neck storytelling and historical veracity are mightily impressive . . . characters remain as compelling and three dimensional as ever . . . Dodger feels fresh, vibrant and full of energy, a triumph that should be celebrated as yet another glorious gift from Narrativia.