Profound and moving and completely original, with a storyline that is completely satisfying. It’ll be one of those novels that stays in my mind forever… it’s a work of art

I finished it in two days flat and I’ve never read anything quite like it. Everything about the book rings true, politically, psychologically, and in period detail, from the sunny beginnings to the grim end

A wonderfully subtle and interesting account of the Mosley women, with a compelling voice

Wonderful, tragicomic… beautifully researched

One of the best books published this year

Uncanny, evocative…. Connolly skilfully sets scenes in pared yet atmospheric prose

Connolly gives an object lesson in how to tell a story in a non-judgmental way. The result is a brave, engrossing and unexpectedly moving novel

Polished and reflective… a salutary masterclass on the values that really matter

This historical novel is an absorbing, nuanced look at extremism dressed up with social niceties and class privilege, and is sure to resonate today

In her latest novel, Cressida Connolly expertly evokes a changing nation, and a woman whose life is altered forever

Connolly [is] an unerring storyteller who excels at both period and place

[A] virtuoso novel

A wonderfully acute writer

Connolly has tremendous fun with her posh characters’ class-obsessed milieu, but the privations of Holloway Prison, with its rope-thick dust, bone-chilling cold and maggoty food, are equally sharply drawn

Deeply impressive…. quietly devastating tale of world affairs played out on an intimate scale

Connolly is a terrifically subtle writer… [she] slyly sweeps her readers into the period drama as tensions tauten between families and social classes

Chilling

Extraordinary, gripping… Exquisitely written with lyricism and a stiletto-sharp and humorous pen, Connolly takes on a subject which resonates powerfully with current politics