The journalists in this book have demonstrated the highest professional achievements and courage. . . Without them, the stories of today and tomorrow will remain only partly told.

A refreshing insight...our knowledge of the Middle East is richer and more nuanced thanks to these courageous women; it is long past time that we looked at things from their perspectives.

Showcases journalism at its bravest. Determination, grit and humour shine through the writing.

Zahra Hankir’s pioneering collection is required reading... An antidote to the endless stream of 'clickbait' and 'content', this is journalism at its most honest and reflective – a multi-dimensional narrative about what it means to be a female journalist in the Arab world and in the West... Hankir shines a light on the strength of those who have reported on war and womanhood and invites us to 'listen to what they have to say'. I urge you to accept her invitation.

A stirring, provocative and well-made new anthology . . . a book that banishes all manner of silences... that rewrites the hoary rules of the foreign correspondent playbook, deactivating the old clichés.

[An] inspiring and extraordinary essay collection… the stories these women have to tell are unique, and deeply needed at a time when our gaze so often turns to what’s happening in the Arab world.

These nineteen brief, riveting essays argue for a more honest, experiential approach [to journalism]… Combining personal and professional history, they pull what can often register as distant, indistinguishable struggles into sharp focus...The journalists in Our Women on the Ground both break the rules and take advantage of them, describing as only they can the private lives of women who comprise the bulk of populations where so many men have died.

The essays are at turns searing, poignant, and funny, but what shines through in all of them is the sheer strength of the women writing.

Several of the[se women] have reported bravely on the conflict in Syria and the travails of women living under ISIS rule. . . . They provide a perspective and a range of contacts and ideas born of experience that had previously been largely missing.

Candid, evocative and above all, daring.

In an era where the truth is put up for debate, let’s celebrate these women, who venture into conflict to get at the truth.

Groundbreaking and intimate...allows the reader to imagine what current affairs coverage would look like if it was a continuous examination of a country’s evolution from the perspective of those who live there.

An intimate glimpse into the courage and pressures bearing on the determined women who report on their own homelands... These sahafiyat are observers as well as insiders... while the women display remarkable resilience, they also speak of dilemmas and loss with heart-breaking clarity. Each has made great sacrifices and is trying to process where she stands.

Refreshing (and long overdue) . . . Will appeal to readers of all genders and backgrounds who want to broaden their understanding of the Arab world.

A dazzling book that elegantly demonstrates how to tell stories with humility, affection, and truthfulness.

A remarkable book. The voices of these trailblazing women are even more vital today, when the region’s upheaval cannot be explained without local, and especially female, perspectives.

With steely courage and pens of fire, these sahafiyat – Arab female journalists – tell the stories of their country’s conflicts, providing rigor, depth and insight few outside commenters could match.

In this groundbreaking anthology, Arab women write of the challenges and beauty of reporting from their homelands. They tell stories of activism, arrest, motherhood, joy, despair, exile and pain, and of how they crossed boundaries and pushed the limits professionally, culturally, and personally. I loved this book, a must-read.

The authors are a who’s who of excellent women writers who have done some of the best journalism in the Arab world.

Out of the gloom of the Middle East, this book brims with new voices – Arab women reporting on their world as no one else has seen it, with courage, inspiration, and resilience. A terrific read, full of insight and surprise.

An astounding, affecting collection. Rich with understanding and sincere emotional connection to the people and places that drive the news, this book contains voices that are both fresh and necessary.

A compelling and gripping read . . . Hankir has created a book that we are all desperate to read.

A refreshing insight into living and working in some of the world's most dangerous places... they upend our understanding of what it means to be a foreign correspondent. Our knowledge of the Middle East is richer and more nuanced thanks to these courageous women; it is long past time that we looked at things from their perspectives

Fans of Liane Moriarty, meet your new favourite author

Family ties are stretched to breaking point in the baking hot New York summer of 1973 . . . A book that's full of life lessons for people in a particular stage of their lives

Keane draws two families in sharp, moving detail, effortlessly peeling back decades of history to look at friendship, mental health, and the changing and sometimes warped face of love

A rare example of propulsive storytelling infused with profound insights about blame, forgiveness and abiding love

Displaying impressive reach . . . Keane delivers an epic of domestic emotional turmoil . . . Tender and patient, the novel avoids excessive sweetness while planting itself deep in the soil of commitment and attachment. Graceful and mature. A solidly satisfying, immersive read

An immersive read about family secrets and redemption

A gut-wrenching tale centered around the families of two rookie, next-door neighbor NYPD cops and a tragedy that reverberates over four decades. The book revolves around the bond between their children, the daily intimacies of marriage and the power of forgiveness

One of the most unpretentiously profound books I've read in a long time . . . As a writer, Keane reminds me a lot of Ann Pratchett; Both have the magical ability to seem to be telling "only" a closely-observed domestic tale that transforms into something else deep and, yes, universal. In Keane's case, that "something else" is a story about forgiveness and acceptance - qualities that sound gooey, but are so hard to achieve in life . . . Modestly magnificent

An Updikean epic of intertwined families destabilized by grief and estrangement following a mother's breakdown, then redeemed by their enduring compassion for one another

10 new books to read this August

A powerful tale of two neighbouring families forever entwined by love and tragedy. . . A touching read

Mary Beth Keane draws two families in sharp, moving detail . . . With hints of Curtis Sittenfeld about it - the way it effortlessly unspools years, but buffets you with a huge amount of detail - it considers friendship and mental ill health, how love changes and warps, and despite a fairly slow start, does so beautifully

Poignant and powerful

A miniature epic . . . like Elizabeth Strout, Keane is good at creating distinctive characters - flawed, empathetic men and women whose inner landscapes she captures in powerful, pared-down prose. The novel is a nuanced portrait of the impact of mental illness and addiction, the limitations and endurance of love and of how 'we repeat what we don't repair'

A thought-provoking read exploring mental illness, alcoholism and violence

Fans of Celeste Ng will love this modern American novel based on two families linked by tragedy and passion . . . A lovely mix of childhood memories growing in to adulthood, and its really powerful

With the author's deftness of touch, characters are rendered as real as those you encounter in daily life, and it's hard not to think about them even after reading the last pages

An engrossing drama about family, forbidden love, the toll of mental illness and the power of mercy

A powerful novel about mental illness, alcoholism, love and redemption

Gripping and full of incident, a deft balance of horror and wit… As ever, Atwood cuts to the truth about women and power

The oppressed feminist shriek of the first novel gets its more optimistic echo in The Testaments...has the dramatic thrust and power to scorch the memory

It is a measure of Atwood's virtuosity as a writer... that rather than picking up where she left off in 1985 when The Handmaid's Tale was published, she has written such a perfect companion piece

Like all good dystopian writers, she presents us with a cracked mirror in which we are asked
to see distorted images of ourselves

If The Handmaid's Tale is disturbing, The Testaments is, in many ways, even more so. Less violent, sure, but Gilead isn't fresh and new at this point. It is a society that has existed for well over a decade, and as such it has become normality for all those who live there...this is, perhaps, far more frightening than the punishments and cruelty we see in the original text

After Donald Trump's election, Ms Atwood came to be seen by some as a soothsayer... If The Handmaid's Tale was a warning, The Testaments has a more positive message... Ms Atwood says that it reflects a sense of hopefulness on her part

For those waiting to find out what happened next, The Testaments is a fantastic conclusion to the story

The transgressive, deliciously dangerous mind of Margaret Atwood

Compelling, poignant and controlled, Atwood's latest work will have any reader gripped

The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments can seem like dark tales for dark times. But Atwood argues that they are not. "Writing is always an act of hope,” she says, “because it assumes a reader. It assumes a reader in the future"... If what we need right now is a great big bundle of hope – and we do – I for one feel extremely reassured that Margaret Atwood is on hand to provide it.

Beautiful in its depth... It is in some ways the continuation and in some sense a response to the extraordinarily powerful world of Gilead she created in The Handmaid's Tale 30-odd years ago. There is a need now to look at what complicity, resilience and resistance might look like

Atwood mania is entirely merited. Not only is there no greater living writer, "Peggy Nature" as friends refer to her eco-activism, is our beloved sage. Her novels have engaged with myth, identity, the sisterhood, and our apocalyptic ecological crisis. Yet nothing has taken flight like her patriarchal dystopia, and nowhere more so than among women

She's always before her time. Each novel is about something people become incredibly interested in half an hour later... There is this tradition of women's writing that uses irony and lightness of touch to deliver monstrous concepts and beliefs. It's that ironic voice that has helped her seamlessly move from one generation of reader to the next. That is the test of a great writer

A savage and beautiful novel, and it speaks to us today, all around the world, with particular conviction and power

The Testaments has come at the right moment for her as well as us because she's now a real sage

A feast

A truly dazzling literary feat that – blessed be the fruit – entirely lives up to the hope and the hype… Atwood’s particular genius is pushing and pushing at sexist tropes until they reach their grotesque but ultimately logical conclusion

The Testaments calls for thought and reflection… ideological commitment is not its only characteristic. It is also a thriller, with a fast-paced plot featuring many entangled concealments and dramatic confrontations… Atwood’s writing is at its incisive best... Atwood is not simply responding to our current anxieties… it is also her own testament, and a renewal of the warning of The Handmaid’s Tale

The Testaments is all the better for choosing other, quieter forms of resistance for women under Gilead’s rule… The sequel is able to buoy you as a reader in a way The Handmaid’s Tale had no interest in doing, but sit with it and it’s still slippery and at times satisfyingly unsatisfying. This is an intriguing book from a woman who knows she can do bleak any day of the week

The Testaments combines gripping entertainment with a complex sense of humanity

Lydia's fascinating tale serves almost as a prequel, while the girls' stirring battle is peppered with pithy wit. Praise be

Atwood has conjured a compelling sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale that is tautly plotted in spare, economical prose… In The Testaments, Atwood succeeds in regaining control of Gilead through words

Terrifying, rage-inducing and utterly gripping

The interaction between these three women is deftly drawn. The enemy never feels other than overwhelmingly malign, yet perversely human and fallible

The Testaments cements Aunt Lydia as one of the most fascinatingly monstrous anti-heroes in fiction

‘Reminds us of the vital connection between words and power and how important it is to validate women’s words in particular

But the biggest name, with the year’s biggest book, is Margaret Atwood: her Handmaid’s Tale sequel The Testaments

The biggest publishing event of the year

For my money, the single most exciting publishing event of the year

One of the most eagerly awaited books of the year

One of the year’s big novels will undoubtedly be Margaret Atwood’s sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, The Testaments

It will be one of the literary events of the year

We'll be poring over The Handmaid's Tale for the 100th time in readiness

The hoopla around the launch of Margaret Atwood's The Testaments is more reminiscent of the unveiling of an iPhone or something Pokemon related than that of a mere book

Tuesday was not merely Tuesday but Testaments Day, and the Capital Testaments Town

Last week's release of Atwood's sequel, The Testaments, made the last Harry Potter launch look like a wet November afternoon...a truly dazzling literary feat that -- blessed be the fruit -- entirely lives up to the hope and the hype... Atwood's particular genius is pushing and pushing at sexist tropes until they reach their grotesque but ultimately logical conclusion

Taylor Swift would kill for this kind of drama... Now, to read it

Spoiler discretion and a ferocious non-disclosure agreement prevent any description of who, how, why and even where. So this: it’s terrifying and exhilarating

Terrifying and exhilarating

Atwood’s musings on power and the patterns of history [is] as incisive as ever

Undeniably page-turning stuff

A publishing sensation

The perfect escapist pleasure

Page-turning stuff

Canada's visionary

A delicious page-turner

A gripping novel with a satisfying conclusion

The Testamnets is a cracking sequel to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and a timely warning about the lengths to which a patriarchal culture will go to control female sexuality

A superb and suspenseful expose of misogyny and the moral ambiguity at the heart of a fanatical regime

[A] rare combination of a rollicking thriller with major political nous told one of our greatest living writers. Essential

An era-defining masterpiece

The Testaments… lived up to the hype

Superbly written and masterfully constructs the regime of Gilead more than its predecessor was able to

The extraordinary Margaret Atwood... she's fabulous'

[A] compelling story

Atwood's sequel shines with all the acuity and brilliance of the original, whilst continuing the story with flair and modern insight

There is no language I could use to express the emotion and beauty behind Margaret Atwood's words. Her work takes you on a journey of emotion - whether you are ready to fight, be kind, be vulnerable, stay strong or simply be, she takes you there

Thrilling, a meditation on courage which asks us to consider what our own response might be were we forced to choose between meek complicity and rebellion at risk of death

She's taken our times and made us wise to them

Inspiring and deeply disturbing