The triangle of deeply believable characters and the story of betrayal and revenge are so engrossing that you almost fail to notice the usual Barnesian fusillade of wit and brilliance
John Carey, Sunday Times

The triangle of deeply believable characters and the story of betrayal and revenge are so engrossing that you almost fail to notice the usual Barnesian fusillade of wit and brilliance
John Carey, Sunday Times

The real wonder of this book is its apparent simplicity, its apparent slowness, the exactness and delicacy of its observations, the absolute firness of the form for the story. Of its kind - and I still don't dare to say what that kind might be - its perfect
Susannah Herbert, Daily Telegraph

The real wonder of this book is its apparent simplicity, its apparent slowness, the exactness and delicacy of its observations, the absolute firness of the form for the story. Of its kind - and I still don't dare to say what that kind might be - its perfect
Susannah Herbert, Daily Telegraph

This wonderfully entertaining novel... A work as skilled and satisfying as this can be nothing other than affirming: Barnes' delicate balance between laughter and despair lifts his entertainment into art
Erica Wagner, The Times

This wonderfully entertaining novel... A work as skilled and satisfying as this can be nothing other than affirming: Barnes' delicate balance between laughter and despair lifts his entertainment into art
Erica Wagner, The Times