Carys Bray's words are filled with the most incredible tenderness and wisdom, and every character is so rich, they each become a story in their own right. The Museum of You is beautiful and clever, and honest. I loved every moment of it

Wonderfully honest and moving ... communicates with skill the overwhelming power of loss through the mouths of ordinary people in ordinary situations, making her observations all the richer

It is funny, earthy, truthful; and beyond that, it is bold … [Clover] is an utterly convincing child, an optimistic realist … her story and hinterland come to life with exceptional energy.

The Museum of You had me laughing, weeping and reading late into the night ... poignant and uplifting ... it's a confident second novel that never strays far from real life - and one that assures her a very bright future

In less skilful hands, this could easily become mawkish or sentimental. But Bray’s talent is her understated emotion and wry humour … it is in the relationships between parents and children that Bray’s prose becomes luminescent … Wise, moving and tender, [The Museum of You] confirms Bray as a perceptive and sensitive storyteller

A moving and surprisingly funny novel

Poetically and sensitively written ... the main theme - the instinctive aspiration and optimism of children - is an uplifting one

A beautifully written tale of loss, love and handwritten exhibition labels

Packed with a wonderfully drawn cast of eccentric neighbours and friends who make up their extended family, Bray spins a witty and tender story from this quirky starting point. The power of memory, the impact of grief and the importance of family are all explored as slowly revealed secrets intensify the novel’s emotional punch.

Tender and touching, Bray gets to the heart of how grief can stunt and stall lives.

A beautifully touching and moving read

Compassionate and hugely enjoyable

A heartwarmingly beautiful story and an absolute joy of a novel. Five stars just doesn’t seem enough.

A poignant story of a father and daughter relationship.

A beautifully written and emotionally insightful coming-of-age tale

Segal excels at character minutiae, switching protagonists from page to page but still doing each one justice… By the end of the book, I felt I would recognise these people waking down Haverstock Hill, albeit that I might not want to stop for a chat… As a comedy of manners though, The Awkward Age is entertaining and intelligently written

Francesca Segal gets the tricky mother/teenage daughter relationship just right in her sharply observant The Awkward Age.

Segal’s writing is a joy – funny, wise, and sharply observant... Terrific

By turns tender, brutal, mordantly funny, and heartbreaking, The Awkward Age is preternaturally knowing about fractured families, and young, middle-aged, and elder love. Every sentence is gorgeously, masterfully written. I loved it as I’ve loved no other recent novel. Francesca Segal is a major novelist

A beguiling story about the oceans between family members, generations, and continents and the journeys we make to reach each other on the other side

There are moments in Francesca Segal’s novel when you are so caught up in the characters that you want to shout at them as though they are your own friends… Think rows, sulks, unexpected relationships and sweet romance all dissected with an elegantly forensic precision

Terrific, sharply observed… Segal gets the precarious mother-teenage daughter relationship spot on

Segal’s is a clever, cruel, redemptive, psychologically acute novel that made this reader glad to have been at school just too early for Facebook, selfies and an “online community” baying for news of your latest boyfriend

Thoughtful and beautifully observed

A gripping foray into second families

Thanks to its occasional moments of emotional veracity, The Awkward Age will be praised as a worthy successor to Segal’s debut

Francesca Segal is an accomplished writer. She neatly describes the clash of cultures between the academically rigorous education enjoyed by Nathan and Gwen’s freer, no-holds-barred comprehensive school. There is an engaging and colourful cast of characters… Segal vividly conveys the difficulties faced by imperfectly blended families

This is a warm, funny book dealing with a most modern matter

A brilliant, thoroughly modern family drama from the author of The Innocents

Punchy… Segal tackles her subject with humour and intelligence and a wealth of memorable characters

Exuberant and entertaining… The rest of the narrative then considers how the competing needs and duties of its four main characters can be met, handled and resolved. It does so with brio, insight and empathy, and with carefully modulated comic energy

A compelling story on the complexities that come with a very modern family that we just couldn’t put down

Love, loss, new beginnings and saying goodbye, it's all in here. A moving read

A terrific novel.

[Segal's] descriptions are spare and unerring; everyday family interactions are observed warmly and yet with precision