[Stace] has a startling imaginative talent and an anarchic sense of humour, but, crucially, he has an ability to bind good ideas to an absorbing plot

Thoroughly satisfying

An absorbing tale with an original narrative twist

More than a high flown yarn; it is also a well-nigh effortless portrait of alienation and sublimated affection... brimming with imagination, Wesley Stace has created as many scenes and characters as some writers would bring to a couple of novels

An ingenious novel, full of affection for a vanished world

Stace... has fashioned a hugely funny and immensely likeable novel that evokes a flamboyantly matriarchal world of greasepaint and spangles as vividly as it captures the relentless machismo of sodden playing fields and tuck-boxes

A finely narrated and curiously moving tale

A journey of true grit and determination for one so young in years. The story alone is superb; add in Enaiatollah's engaging prose and this books sings on the page. Highly recommended

A dissection of the emotional fissures that tear families apart

The novel...is thoughtful and beautifully written, examining lost lives, chances and choices

A sort of historical treatise follows, one that is devoid of the kind of colourful details which abound in stereotypical lottery daydreams, but which nevertheless endears the reader to Andy and his cause, and sets up an enticing conclusion'