A rip-roaring read

There's never a dreary moment in this blast of a book . . . Johnson's descriptions are irresistibly exuberant . . . As addictively, fizzily invigorating as the Alpine air itself

Johnson delivers a genuine sense of time and place . . . there isn't a dull sentence in this sure-footed novel

Excellent on period detail, the blundering innocent abroad and young heartbreak

An excellent romp. Full of 'tally-ho' Mitfordian charm . . . a witty, fast read

An edifying moral lesson as well as a tale of inter-generational sleuthing

The Jane Austen of W11

Johnson is excellent on period detail and captures the flavour of an era when the storm clouds were gathering

A wonderfully majestic and evocative tale of 18th century Russia at a key moment in history

An intensely written, intensely felt saga of the early years that shaped the 18th century's famous czarina, Catherine the Great. Her survival in the treachery of the Russian court was an amazing feat, and Eva Stachniak captures the fluidity and steeliness that propelled Catherine from a lowly German duchess to one of the towering figures of the century

A riveting reconstruction of a crucial era in Russian history… shows iconic figures of the period as real people

Covering the twenty years that turned Catherine the Great from a young bride on approval to the legendary Empress of Russia, Eva Stachniak's novel gives a magical insight into the hopes and fears that haunted the corridors of the St Petersburg palace. It brings alive the very tastes and textures of the mid-eighteenth century

An intimate portrait of 18th century girl-power

A wry moral tale exploring the little evasions and compromises of everyday life. Translator Agnes Scott does justice to Solstad’s measured voice

This short-but-striking novel quickly reveals itself to be…crime fiction, yes, but also a subtle and deeply introspective consideration of the inertia of lonely middle-age, its philosophy existentialist in the manner of Jean Paul Sartre, Ingmar Bergman and certain novels of Georges Simenon. The result is a highly complex and accomplished work

Intriguing tale… Solstad expertly navigates the bizarre mind of a clever but lonely man locked in an existentialist nightmare

This is no straightforward crime novel…an exploration of guilt, inaction and moral quandaries