"One of my favorite novels of all time. A sweeping, beautifully told love story that spans two countries and holds the reader captive to the last page."

"This is the first book in a fascinating series of four novels that will make you want to hold on tight to your own brilliant best friend."

"It’s one of the most spatially poetic novels ever. Each room Maud Martha lives in is grown by the very cautious and awesome pace of her language."

"She was the best writer of magical children’s fiction of our generation. I don’t know if this is the best of her novels, but it’s my favourite."

"This novel shows all of Waugh’s gifts for satire and farce, but unlike his earlier novels, it has a three-dimensional, tragic protagonist in aristocratic cuckold Tony Last."

"I am a sucker for campus novels, and this is one of the best, even though it has some pretty scathing things to say about feminist literary criticism."