'Very fine, engrossing, exquisitely original'

'An enthralling story of love and loss, a real literary treasure. One of the most original novels of the year'

'You don't need to be in archaeology - this is a tale of rivalry, loss and thwarted love. It's so absorbing that I read right through lunchtime one day, and it's not often I miss a meal'

'A rich vein of dry humour runs throughout'

'Intriguing, tender and entertaining ... easily Preston's best'

'A delicate, quietly affecting human drama'

'A moving novel that coheres wonderfully as it progresses'

'A delicate evocation of a vanished era'

Wonderful, evocative. From this simple tale of dirt, Preston has produced the finest gold. He keeps an iron grip on the reader's attention

'Beautifully written...there is a true and wonderful ending to the story'

'Wistful and poignant. A masterpiece in Chekhovian understatement'

'Exciting, evocative and beautifully written. A treasure in itself'

'Shimmers with longing and regret . . . Preston writes with economical grace . . . He has written a kind of universal chamber piece, small in detail, beautifully made and liable to linger on in the heart and the mind. It is something utterly unfamiliar, and quite wonderful'

[It] is pleasingly baffling, suggesting hidden depths and multiple layers without ever quite revealing them.

What stands out, and stays with you, is the fable-like aura which makes this feel like a children’s book for adults.

Coetzee doesn’t want to be understood, or explained. He wants, merely, to be read. The Schooldays of Jesus is, indeed, very readable.

The prose is limpid, the plot simple, the style hypnotic, but what it all means I wouldn’t like to say.