‘Actually unputdownable, written with charge and energy and a kind of compelling drive, a clarity and a gripping dramatic insidiousness reminiscent of classic Rebecca West and Daphne du Maurier’ Ali Smith, Scotland on Sunday
‘The handling of different time periods is amazing’ Independent
‘The most talked-about novel release of the summer’ Marie Claire
'Heartbreakingly beautiful and original' Eve
‘For once the claims stand up. The novel is brilliant in every way. With devastating clarity, O'Farrell shows the dangerous webs through which people conspire to present an acceptable front and how, years later, when the initial protagonists are dead and history seems set, another story can emerge to confound everything. This is done with precision and brilliance and with a sparkle that recalls Katherine Mansfield's glitter and sting. Maggie O'Farrell has written a taut, fragile mystery of relationships and deception’ Literary Review
‘Deliciously paced, classic O'Farrell’ Good Housekeeping
‘Gripping… Her best novel to date’ Elle
‘Maggie O’Farrell is one of our most skilful and successful writers of romantic fiction: passionate love affairs and long-buried family secrets are her stock-in-trade… O’Farrell is as adept as ever at creating suspense and offering plot-twists… O’Farrell’s story-telling skills ensure that this novel is compulsively readable, and delivers strong emotional punch’ Telegraph
‘Daphne Du Maurier’s Scottish successor… this novel has the pace, revelations and strategically dropped clues of a psychological thriller… This is an utterly compulsive read, and an impassioned call for the injustice of committing perfectly sane women to mental institutions to be acknowledged… It’s powerful stuff… O’Farrell’s strength is [is] to make us care about her characters. It is also what makes her books so absorbing… O’Farrell’s themes are gender roles, violence, inequality, sexual and social mores, and now madness. Not many authors of so-called popular women’s fiction are tackling feminist issues like this, let alone with as much sensitivity and success as O’Farrell’ Scotland on Sunday
‘Extraordinary… Horrifyingly hard to put down, and unforgettable’ She
‘Beautifully written and deeply moving… refreshingly original… Disturbing and brilliant’ Herald
‘Her best novel to date… Thoughtful, warm, elegantly written and totally shocking, this book is also a fantastic read and a real page-turner’ Daily Express
‘Gripping’ Time Out
‘O'Farrell slowly unveils the connections and catastrophes that have marked and marred the lives of Esme and Kitty, and tenderly shows how the past can haunt the present with devastating consequences. Mesmerisingly good’ Daily Mail
