Fresh and original, a spare and moving tale that’s never showy but often dazzling.

Stewart Foster’s elegant debut novel is a heartbreaking tale of a boy’s struggle with mental illness, set against the backdrop of the Space Race, 1970s summers and his family’s refusal to face the truth.

There's so much to love in this book, he's such a beautiful, crisp writer. For a first book it's really amazing.

We Used to Be Kings is a very powerful book, written with a poignant intensity that often burns. It is one of the most touching books about madness I have ever read, and deserves a wide readership. Stewart Foster has created something very special.

An extraordinary debut. The author trusts the reader to suss out the plot.

There’s a youthful intensity about this coming of age story.

Foster's descriptive narrative keeps you gripped and desperate to find out more. A really well-written and engaging first novel, We Used To Be Kings is an absolute must-read.

Stewart Foster’s debut is a spectacular feat of ingenuity and courage that redefines the art of storytelling

A highly original and hugely moving story of deep psychosis. Stewart Foster challenges us to live in his character's chaotic world, where the dead whisper in our ear, but throughout it all his compassion never falters.

Taut with narrative excitement and suspense...a novel of rich diversity that triumphantly integrates imagination and intelligence, rationality and emotional alertness

He is the maestro at creating suspense: the particular, sickening, see-sawing kind that demands a kind of physical courage from the reader to continue reading

Deeply humane tale of memory, loss and the struggle to understand a family’s past… It’s a novel of generous warmth

A beautiful, brilliant novel destined to cement Sue's place as one of the leading lights of the Scottish literary scene

Peebles' keen eye for social observation adds a comic touch to the narrative, expertly showing how black humour is used in bleak times.

Peebles writes poetic prose, capturing Aggie's imaginative character and her need to find meaning in the puzzle of circumstances she finds herself in. The insight into dementia and its impact upon a family is poignant, with Aggie desperate to recapture the history of a beloved Gran who is disappearing in front of her eyes. The novel strongly evokes the Scottish countryside, its link to the past and the secrets it keeps. The story may be a slow burner, but keep going because its gentle pace builds up to a satisfying conclusion

Aridjis tells an improbable tale with enough details to give it authenticity, and to make her genuinely creepy story something thoughtful and original

This is an incredibly atmospheric novel, seen through the eyes of Marie, a consummate outsider

Aridjis is a fantastic new voice in fiction with a real gift for character and location

Set against London’s rain-soaked streets, it is an astute portrait of the alienation of urban life

A beautiful tale examining the processes of life

Eschewing a conventional narrative, this absorbing novel deceptively contains a crackling energy within its understated, artful prose