Original and sympathetic... Like John Iriving he draws credible, emotionally engaging characters, who find themselves afflicted by the oddest and most unexpected of mishaps... One of those rare novels that is so touching and so odd, you couldn't make it up

One of the most enjoyable reads of the year

Peopled with beautifully-drawn characters and full of colour, drama and pathos, this is a superb first novel

If this was a film it would be made by the Coen brothers. Quirky, charming and very funny

Very accomplished... Edgar is a brilliant creation

'A wild and wondrous tale... I was utterly charmed by it'

'A story that tears at you and calls you back to it... There is also a human heart beating in here, as beautiful and profound as your own'

An affecting story, extremely well told

A stark and beautiful book, alive to the compromises, deceptions and passions that traumatic situations can demand from the most circumspect of people

A haunting debut that eschews sensationalism and unfurls with quiet delicacy

[An] ambitious debut

Riveting, luminous

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