A tour de force in which every paragraph uncoils with vertiginous twists and turns, lightning metaphors, genuine learning, unstoppable laughter, and a passionate sense of literary pleasure

Amis's gifts - vigilance, wit, energy of language... A collection that reaffirms him as the suavest and funniest critic of his generation

We have here a literary critic of startling power... Often being right and being funny are, in this book, aspects of the same sentence... Amis is the best practitioner-critic of our day - just what Pritchett was in his prime...

[Written] with intelligence and ardor and panache... Speaks not just to a lifetime of reading but also to a fascination with individual writers mature

Brilliant prose... [Amis] proselytizes for talent by demonstrating it, by doing it... He is a master

Roth's writing looks uncompromisingly straightforward but is subtle and clever... A human story for our times

The genius of this short, bleak, remarkable novel stems from the way that Roth turns his desolate assessment of death into something bracing: an angry acceptance that mortality is the price we pay for the sheer wonder of this thing called life

Every sentence and every paragraph works with the coiled precision of the watch mechanisms that the narrators father repairs and glitters with the lapidary perfection of the perfection he sells

A savage, heart-wrenching novella

A simple beautiful ending to a deeply sombre book

There is enough plot for several novels here (enough sex for dozens), all vividly conveyed in the author's excitable style... Her many fans will not be disappointed

Harris does it again with this brilliantly told tale.

Voluptuous helpings of magic, mystery, love and, of course, mouthwatering discriptions of her favourite chocolates, combine to make a rich, satisfying story that should keep you riveted to your sun lounger page after page

The Lollipop Shoes is a sensory fantasy, Harris writes with an original and satisfying poetic flair.

...the magic still enchants

...a sumptuous treat.

...a sensory fantasy, Harris writes with an original and satisfying poetic flair. Harris is a delicious treat.

This novel has the richness of the best quality dark chocolate.

Sparkling black comedy

Pearson is a hilarious author who captures the guilt and the exhaustion of the working mother's life perfectly

It's the incisive details and Pearson's vivid writing that propel the story

Smart book...great fun

Pearson is insightful, witty and full of fun

Wonderfully warm, witty and intelligent

A Bible for the working woman

Her social observation is unerringly accurate...so beautifully written that it brought tears to my eyes, as well as a wry smile

Pearson...to write a novel...that has already sold a gazillion copies and is going to become a film. Hats off to you, madam!

She will...make you laugh

Pearson...has made it all fresh again

Entertaining, compulsively readable, and brilliantly written

Hilarious and...poignant

This terrific novel is alternately hilarious and sad

It may change your life

Pearson is a very witty and moving writer. Her prose is spare and skilful...waspish truisms and spot-on social observations

Intelligent, witty and of-the-moment, it mixes sassy, brittle perceptions with barefaced sentimentality

Brilliantly captures and defines the mood of the moment...sparkling wit and razor sharp insights

Sharply observed and frequently funny