Press

What the critics say

Delivers its jokes and its tragedies as efficiently as Dickens...outrageously funny on almost every page...will dazzle readers for years to come.
- London Review of Books

'A debut novel of astonishing confidence and skill...Acutely observant, overflowing with good jokes, it is the work of an author who loves her characters and sets them playing with gleeful energy'
- Spectator

'An astounding book...without doubt one of the finest novels I have read for years'
- The Times

'Little short of a masterpiece...Fizzing with wit and energy, Kate Atkinson's hilarious novel made me laugh and cry'
- Daily Mail

'A blinding debut from a Yorkshire mother-of-two who could be Alan Bennett's baby sister...straight-up simplicity veils the depth, poignancy and poetry of her story'
- Time Out

A first novel written so fluently and wittily that I sailed through it as though blown by an exhilarating wind. I loved it
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'Enchanting. It hops with sprightly omniscence from past to future and back again'
- The Sunday Times

A really gripping, emotionally satisfying family saga written with warmth and wit. I've re-read it countless times.
- Red