Superior novel...wincingly precise in his imagery and technically adept... An electric and darkly gleeful read

An immensely clever, tragicomic novel...a rich meditation on past and present colonial politics... What resonates for me is what I greatly admire in all Thorpe's work: the complex depth, and the texture and poetry of his storytelling language

An intimate depiction of family life... Vivid and luminous

Because this is Adam Thorpe, there are only two things you know for certain: that the writing will be gorgeous, silky-smooth; and that the plot will be entirely original, defying categorisation...enjoy

An intricate fiction which reminds us gently that war wrecks lives in ways too tangled to anticipate

It is hard to better Jean Plaidy when she is in form...both elegant and exciting as she steers a stylish path through the feuding Plantagenets.

Outstanding

Jean Plaidy conveys the texture of various patches of the past with such rich complexity

'A grand recounting of the second Punic War...Durham's epic is truly a big, magnificent, sprawling story complete with a sizable cast of compelling characters, intricately drawn battle scenes and fluid, graceful prose'