Shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, The Radio is an outstanding book from a poet who is not only one of the best writers of her generation but who seems, more and more, to be the voice of that generation.

Leontia Flynn’s The Radio sees one of Northern Ireland’s most assured voices continue her engagement with the alchemy of form in an effortlessly contemporary manner, indeed driving the thought thrillingly through longer stanza forms, including a brilliant elegy for Heaney. Theexposure of family, and its intimate matrix of the generations, to the equal threats of history and human frailty is played out in work with an intense sense of place and moment.

Anybody with an interest in poetry should be reading Leontia Flynn. Those with no interest should be reading her too: she has what it takes to overcome resistance. All mothers – especially new mothers – should read her. Her understanding of what it is to be a woman is one of the things (by no means the only thing) that makes this collection so powerful. Her thinking is complicated but never arrogantly inaccessible. I was bowled over by this, her fourth collection. I kept returning to poems for the sheer pleasure of them – no slog involved.

The Radio sparkles with 21st-century chutzpah, sometimes offset by maternal angst.

Funny, touching, satirical, breathtaking and dazzling by turns, packed full of exceptional poems.

Flynn breathes the new life of an entirely contemporary voice into a seemingly traditional stanzaic structure.

Everything he writes about love, loss, grief, desolation and moments of hope and illumination rings absolutely true. It's the real stuff.

Barney Norris is a rare and precious talent

Impressive

Turning for Home is a resonant portrayal of memory, and Barney Norris a writer of impressive talent.

By turns lyrical and stark, emotionally charged and unflinchingly factual . . . a harrowing tour de force that ends on a redemptive note

The writing and structure are exceptionally good. Richard has fantastic finesse with the use of language and the enviable ability of describing a lot in concentrated amounts… It has a reflective after burn, which I always rate as a skill in its own right, and so it is definitely one, if tempted to, you ought to give it a go. The writing is impressive and most definitely unique

The book is convincing as an exploration of ourselves and the meaning of identity and truth in a "fake news" world.

“You might want to get a firm grip on your socks before cracking open this one; otherwise, Gonzales is likely to knock them off. It’s very difficult to categorize this mind-bending novel… it’s pure excitement… A brilliant genre-blender.”

“The narrative not only bounces between perspectives in short, propelling chapters, but also pinballs in time... Gonzales writes with an abundance of imagination, riffing on comic book and pop culture plot lines and characters while adding his own unique perspective... there are moments of brilliance.”

“A hyperkinetic sci-fi set piece along the lines of Die Hard seeded with paranormal elements cribbed from half a dozen other franchises and the absent-parent grudges that fuel any number of teen novels. … Genre enthusiasts will love the spooky cyberpunk spirit at play here, and resolute readers will be rewarded with an unexpected ending that ratchets up the action long after the Regional Office has been abandoned. A surprisingly erudite bit of sci-fi that throws in everything but the kitchen sink.”

If we do a better book than this on the [Simon Mayo Radio 2] Book Club, we'll have a very very good year!

A Gentleman in Moscow is quite a novel. Towles’ use of language is a pleasure and you can’t help but savour every word . . . a great work of fiction.

A love story like no other, in a beautiful-looking book.

The perfect escapist read, Amor Towles’ A Gentleman In Moscow is utterly mesmerising.

An inventive and charming novel

The same gorgeous, layered richness that marked Towles' debut shapes this novel

A masterful writer . . . a talent for conjuring up scenes from the past and present and bringing them into remarkable focus

This novel is as much a celebration of that great culture as it is a biography of an irrepressible and indomitable spirit . . . an absolute must read.

Spread across four decades, this is in all ways a great novel, a nonstop pleasure brimming with charm, personal wisdom and philosophical insight.

This is parable for all world travellers.

A charming novel.

Lovely, long and lingering story.

Written with a clipped, capering style and comic flair that can't fail to charm.

A profound, often funny survey of mid-20th-Century Russia

Unputdownable

Among the greatest comic novels of all time . . . told with such style and wit that every page reduced me to helpless laughter and admiration

The book I would recommend to anyone who appreciates what only fiction can do … It’s a page-turner and a delight.

I love the novels of Amor Towles, especially A Gentleman in Moscow - he has this ability to nail the idiosyncrasies and quirks of a character in just a few words.

A heart-warming story that asks the reader to consider what is important in life. We loved it. *****

I can highly recommend A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles as lockdown reading ... The story resonates because we have all endured restricted lifestyles of late and may continue to for months to come.

It is a good book to read during this pandemic because it's about how he is being confined to Moscow's Hotel Metropol.

Towles's book is a delight, with a beguiling central character and lively descriptions of life in Russia over a period of 30 years.

A wonderful bookwhich gives the reader an understanding of life in post revolution Moscow.

Totally original novel ... A great deal of Russian history is also subtly woven into this magical book, which is tear-jerking but never sentimental, with a quite unexpected and thrilling ending.

Wonderful, combining brilliant storytelling with beautiful writing.

I love the novels of Amor Towles, especially A Gentleman in Moscow - he has this ability to nail the idiosyncrasies and quirks of a character in just a few words.

It's hard not to fall in love with Count Rostov, an impeccably mannered and mischievous aesthete placed under permanent house arrest at Moscow's Metropol hotel ... An endearing and frequently hilarious novel that covers big topics with a velvet touch.