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The Way I Found Her
The Way I Found Her
Aug 2, 2025 7:06 AM

Author:Rose Tremain

The Way I Found Her

'A magical invention of page-turning suspense, of sadness, grief and passion' The Times

Lewis Little, precocious thirteen-year-old, is spending summer in Paris with his mother, Alice.

Alice is translating the latest medieval romance by Valentina Gavrilovich, the bestselling and exotic Russian émigré. Lewis is there to make his first acquaintance with one of the greatest cities in the world; neither can foresee the momentous events that lie in wait for them.

Valentina slowly casts a spell over Lewis, but when her past begins to encroach on all their lives and, as this enchanted world is gradually lost, Lewis is driven on a terrifying quest.

Reviews

A scary, funny and ultimately very affecting novel... Tremain lets us glimpse the adult-in-waiting; reminds us that life - tinged with joy, sex, pain - takes its whole shape from such moments

—— Julie Myerson , Mail on Sunday

The Way I Found Her is a magical invention of page-turning suspense, of sadness, grief and passion, whose sure and delicate exposure of a sensibility flowering one hot Parisian summer teaches us the price of experience. Do not miss it

—— Elizabeth Buchan , The Times

Quite simply magnificent

—— The Times

A darkly beguiling delight that’s perfect for fans of rich and imaginative fantasy books akin to Erin Morgenstern and Neil Gaiman.

—— CULTUREFLY

An entertaining and clever examination of folklore, female empowerment, and the system that attempts to keep women in check.'

—— SciFiNOW

Van Praag spins a compelling, intensely poetic narrative of empowerment and self-realisation.

—— Guardian

In an original, wonderfully imaginative series of reflections, moving between essayistic insights, condensed metaphors of poetry, mysteries of microbiology and animal or human journeys, Ruth Padel takes migration as her subject and the whole earth as her province. A thrilling, poignant, richly illuminating investigation of the energies which create life and drive history

—— Eva Hoffman

Who would have thought that a poet would write about one of the most fascinating aspects of behavioural biology and human striving? A remarkable, beautifully constructed book, interleaving science and history, clear prose and evocative poems

—— Professor Patrick Bateson, President of the Zoological Society of London

This book is an extraordinary mixture of poetry, prose, fact and fantasy.

—— Kate Saunders , Saga Magazine

An engrossing meditation on the theme of migration…reads like a collaboration between Dorothy Wordsworth and Darwin.

—— Mark Sanderson , Sunday Telegraph

Naomi Novik reinvents the magical school story by working a strange, funny, wild, dark magic all her own. This is not just your next great read - it's your new obsession.

—— GWENDA BOND

Novik is a master at setting up a plot to unfurl in a series of staggeringly well-thought out bursts of action, weaving together into an imaginative climax.

—— LAUREN JAMES

A Deadly Education is a book that lives up to its gob smacker of an opening sentence and follows right through to its shocker of an ending that promises more to come. Naomi Novik is relentlessly innovative and entertaining

—— TERRY BROOKS

Fresh, smart, and delightfully unique. It's Hogwarts with higher stakes and sharper claws, and I absolutely loved it.

—— ALIX E. HARROW

The author's most entertaining novel to date

—— SFX

Fun and beautifully written

—— Metro

A story that never stops moving while always remaining focused on developing the characters of both the people and the school itself

—— Locus Magazine

A wonderful book ... done with a gorgeous twist of humour and great emotional insight ... One of my books of the year

—— Ryan Tubridy , RTÉ Radio 1

Exquisite ... One of the funniest writers in Ireland

—— Irish Examiner

Immensely readable, warm, human and very, very funny

—— Irish Daily Star

Pixies were loud-quiet-loud. Patrick Freyne is funny-sad-funny. I really loved his new book

—— Ed O'Loughlin , via Twitter

Readers are sure to find themselves touched by Freyne's writing ... Delightful

—— Journal.ie

Freyne's thoroughly entertaining debut is a flash of warmth and wit in the darkness

—— Totally Dublin

Genuinely moving ... [It] will evoke warmth in anyone who isn't totally sociopathic

—— Hot Press

A delightful insight into the mind of the hilarious Patrick Freyne

—— Irish Country Magazine

So honest, so funny, and most importantly, 11/10 for self-deprecation

—— Sarah Breen

Brilliant ... An absolute mind hug

—— Niall Breslin

Freyne's radar is precision-honed to find the madness within the mundane

—— Sunday Independent

More moving that I ever expected and somehow funnier than I assumed

—— Emer McLysaght , Irish Times, Best Books of 2020

Captivating and moving.

—— Tablet, *Summer Reads of 2021*

Moving... Beneath the attention-seeking is a well-loved author who has gone through his cupboards, giving us all that he has.

—— Johanna Thomas-Corr , Sunday Times

A defiant and witty testimony to mortality and a tender remembrance of his friends and literary heroes… I’ve been reading and re-reading it this year

—— Times Literary Supplement, *Books of the Year*

Continues in the same superior vein as Restoration… The fusion of such an engrossing character, and the minutiae of another time, remains a marvel

—— Daily Telegraph

In this evocative and beautifully drawn novel of family and loyalty in the face of an uncertain future Tremain continues the story of a wonderfully unique character

—— Hannah Britt , Daily Express

Hugely enjoyable

—— Reader's Digest

Merivel’s hapless charm remains intact in this tour de force of literary technique

—— Sunday Telegraph (Seven)

A sequel that looks back to the earlier novel without ever quite recapturing its spirit is the perfect form in which to evoke that feeling of having to carry on, and of trying to make yourself have fun even with it eventually begins to hurt

—— Colin Burrow , Guardian

A marvelllously rollicking good read, and it is such a pleasure to meet Robert Merivel again. Rose Tremain brings the character to life in a way that makes you want to find out even more about the period. Enormously skilled and deft

—— Good Book Guide
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