Bold and moving

An assured tour de force of passion...the power with which it reclaims spiritual and sexual strength for women cannot be ignored

By her rich use of symbols and metaphor she transforms feminist cliché into something alive and moving

A complex and highly original novel

A wistful daydream about innocence and happiness

The high mid-summer pomps of tree and flower are evoked with gusto

I really enjoyed Pay It Forward and its powerful message. I very much admire the work and philosophy of Catherine Ryan Hyde and I thank her for what she is doing and for what she is writing. It's a powerful reminder of the difference one person can make.

Karoo is a very good and very funny novel of the old-fashioned American kind, the tragi-comic story - familiar from Philip Roth and JP Donleavy - of a selfish but vulnerable and oddly lovable monster whose own shortcomings don't disqualify him from saying some sharp things about the hypocrisies of the allegedly better-balanced types who despise him

Adulterous alcoholic and pathological liar, it is, nevertheless, hard not to love Karoo, whose sardonic observations are both poignant and extremely funny. This is comic writing at its best. Clever, well crafted and proof that Tesich was master of the medium

Brilliantly funny in its early chapters, but also very wise, the virtuosic irony turns to bitterness as a tragic story develops. Tesich died just after completing this marvellous, heart-felt valediction.

A sad novel with a jaunty, upbeat tone that disguises the tragedy of Tesich's magnetic characters

A feisty read you won't want to put down

A must-read for empty nesters ... this is Trollope at her most poignant