Good-humoured and persuasive ... sets out to dispel the comfortable notion that our skin is a smooth protective barrier between us and the outside world... Clean made me chuckle and then left me thoughtful

Accessible and articulate - graceful even - and there are some wonderful surprises

Fun, interesting and credible

A must read

James Hamblin's characteristic mix of clarity and levity shine through every single page. You'll never think about your largest organ the same way again

Defiant and powerful

Extraordinarily moving

'A beacon of hope in a dark world'

A blazingly beautiful memoir... A glimmer of hope in the dark.

A delicious read . . . A nimble account of student life with a darkly enjoyable undercurrent of secrecy and emotional turmoil

A joy to read ­- disarming, entertaining and life-affirming. A blisteringly good portrayal of complex lives and loves. It's an enthralling debut from a hugely talented writer

Brilliant, vivid - I enjoyed this book ENORMOUSLY

Eimear Ryan is a superbly talented writer and Holding Her Breath is a brilliantly realised, gripping, and moving first novel, full of startling perceptions and richly believable characters. This is absolutely the real thing

A confident, textured, fluent novel about first love - and the campus novel sections are a pure joy

Written with a wonderful clarity and insight, Holding Her Breath lingers in the imagination. Beth's unravelling and re-ravelling is drawn with great skill and empathy. A brilliant debut

Enthralling

So finely polished it gleams, and yet it's also almost effortless reading . . . new, bright, exciting, glittering. I absolutely loved it

Stylishly written, with strong female voices

Very assured . . . a refreshing, accomplished debut

It's a truly compelling read, and one I wholeheartedly recommend

I very much enjoyed reading this one and if you love intimate coming of age tales as much as I do, you have to pick this up

An engaging narrative . . . written with perfect poise

Fast-paced and filled with witty dialogue, and the book explores the depth and complexity of friendships between women

Wildly entertaining

I LOVED this absolute cracker of a book about the cuckoo in the next and a toxic female friendship. Highly recommended

I loved hanging out with Ronke, Simi and Boo. A brilliant portrayal of how complicated friendships can sometimes be

This story draws you in and spits you out, breathless. Echoes of Atwood's The Robber Bride but so its own thing. A treat.

A heady mix of friendship, dark comedy and murder. WAHALA is razor-sharp

May's nuanced exploration of race and gender makes this refreshing. This will leave readers intrigued to see what May does next

A terrific, witty debut

WAHALA hooked me from page one and kept me enthralled till the (TWIST!) end. A riot of colour and noise, friendships, enemies, secrets, lies and soul food. Written with a lightness of touch. Insightful, clever, and honest. I will read anything and everything she writes

This gripping debut is a journey of friendship, revenge and finding your true self

Nikki May builds a propulsive reading experience as she slowly reveals Isobel's manipulations while keeping the reasons behind them hidden. Compelling character studies of each of the women don't shy away from the jealousies and judgements that sometimes make the line between friend and enemy razor thin...A fascinating look at the dark side of female friendship

A funny brilliant read

This will satisfy hungry appetites and blow your thriller taste buds. Deliciously spicy

Nikki May's sharp and funny debut novel is a delight on many levels. WAHALA bursts with life from start to finish

May seamlessly weaves love, betrayal, self-reflection, and Nigerian food, clothing, and customs into this fast-paced debut...Fans of domestic suspense will revel in this tale of friendship, family, and forgiveness, set in the cultural milieu of Lagos

Sharp and darkly witty

A rapid and wildly hilarious page-turner

A hotly tipped debut for 2022

WAHALA combines a frank and daring exploration of modern female friendship with a dark, punchy thriller

Fabulously fun

May's skill for weaving together entertaining personal problems with a wistfulness for Nigerian food, customs and culture is unparalleled. WAHALA is hard to put down - an energetic, entertaining interrogation of a fundamentally flawed friendship

Refreshing and original. Exhilarating

Contemporary female friendship goes glam in this lively debut novel with remarkable depth

I would definitely recommend this book to friends. I already have!

Sharply observed ... sophisticated and culturally adept ... May is a masterful chronicler of Black upper-middle-class lie and ennui in Britain. WAHALA is both great fun and extremely smart in how it captures some of the central issues in modern city living: women's evolving roles in home and work, interracial relationships and multicultural identity, the current competition that runs through so many friendships and daily interactions and, most of all, how easily intimacy can morph into enmity

Witty-wity-edge. Its humour is pin sharp

A dazzling, rich and efferverscent read. It's relevant and full of life. The killer edge was unexpectedly shocking. Just fantastic in every way

A glorious read

Spicy as Aunty K's moin moin, satisfying as a plate of Ronke's jollof rice

Pacy, fun and gripping ... May wanted to write "a brown Sex and the City, or a brown Big Little Lies" - we reckon WAHALA could be just as big

Like "Sex and the City" but set in London. And with mystery. And murder

The upshot is a funny, slightly murdery story about three women and their wahala, or "trouble" - their boyfriends, their professional aspirations, and their weaves

The novel's strength lies in May's attention to her main character's identities. May's breezy prose is well-suited to these moments of casual intimacy, unfolding over drinks, at the hairdresser's or at the kitchen table, where all the best gossip takes place

Some of the smartest reading fun I've had all year