Grazia 'The much-loved author returns with an intense story of love, motherhood and childhood secrets. With a narrative that slips seamlessly between '50s Soho and the present day, it's beautifully written and thought-provoking. O'Farrell fans will not be disappointed'

Waterstone’s Books Quarterly 'O'Farrell's fifth novel and one that is sure to be judged contemporary fiction's best - if not last - word on motherhood. Lexie is the author's finest character to date and the joy taken in her creation is obvious. This dazzlingly stylish novel....O'Farrell's many fans will be thrilled with this longer, richer novel, while new readers will rejoice at having stumbled on a rare delicacy. And both groups, I predict, will have found in it their book of the year'

Literary Review ‘Genuinely unputdownable…evidence of her place as one of Britain’s most engaging contemporary novelists’

Heat Magazine, ***** 'This story is elegant, poetic and tenderly written.  The characters are so well-written that you feel as if they are sat next to you, telling you their stories...an entirely encompassing and beautiful read'

Jane Gardam, Guardian Maggie O’Farrell’s new novel is a short book about a long life and has the dreamlike intensity of imagination and the gift of conveying pain, fear and sometimes rapture for which O’Farrell is known.  The prose is spare, yet the Edwardian world it describes crosses two continents and is as rich and clear as stained glass’

Telegraph 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’

Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife‘The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox is strange, sad, and a marvelously well-written novel. I would like to think that families only behave this way in books, but unfortunately betrayal, jealousy, and secrets are all too common in real life. It was a terrific book, I will be thinking about it for a long time’

Independent on Sunday ‘O’Farrell has a magical talent…powerful and mesmerising’

Time Out ‘Her strongest yet, will especially please readers who loved O’Farrell’s debut … elegant and perfectly judged’

Daily Mail ‘Spooky and tender, with a dizzying twist near the end’

Amanda Craig, The Times 'What makes her really remarkable among modern novelists is that you care passionately about her characters and their fates'

Heat ‘Forget answering the phone, going out on a Friday night or bothering to strike up a conversation with whoever you live with, and get used to long, reclusive periods of voracious reading without tea and biccie breaks’

Daily Telegraph ‘Those who loved and wept over her debut, After You’d Gone, will not be disappointed…insightful and emotionally raw’

Mail on Sunday ‘A gripping exploration of the ambivalence at the heart of intimate relationships…keenly observed, superbly imagined’

Literary Review ‘As soon as I’d finished My Lover’s Lover…I rushed to my local bookshop to acquire her first novel – that is the drug-like strength of O’Farrell’s storytelling’

Time Out ‘Her writing is exquisite, skilfully laying a trail of half-truths and mystery to ensnare and enthral’

Esther Freud, Guardian Books of the Year ‘Beautifully constructed… unashamedly passionate’

Michele Roberts, Independent Books of the Year ‘Unputdownable, beautifully written …a joy to savour’

Mail on Sunday ‘This tense, involving and disturbing read… kept me up half the night, unable to put it down’

The Times ‘O’Farrell textures the plot brilliantly, wrapping the bare bones in a rich flesh’