Eloquent book, which struggles heroically to show that reason and scholarship still have value in the face of genocide and mass suffering

Graceful and honorific

Hoffman draws upon disparate disciplines and forms of literature to probe the issues that haunt her generation

She is a sensitive but unsentimental writer, scrupulously fair-minded, keenly aware of the conflicts and dilemmas involved

Hoffman asks many questions, bringing a voice of reason to the irrational, reaching out for reconciliation

[A] journey through colour, showing how its language is at the centre of how we think and feel about the world. Colour is everywhere. Through this book, we can see it afresh.

[H]ow wonderfully colourful it was! [...] I think everyone should have a copy of this book

Masterly, perhaps a masterpiece

Every house in England should have a copy of this book

Jenkins is, like all good guides, more than simply informative: he can be courteous and rude, nostalgic and funny, elegant, convincing and relaxed'

Any passably cultured inhabitant of the British Isles should ask for, say, three or four copies of this book

Full of stand-out facts . . . absolutely fascinating

Full of the good judgements one might hope for from such a sensible and readable commentator, and they alone are worth perusing for pleasure and food for thought

Jenkins has travelled the length and breadth of Great Britain's railways. Beautifully illustrated with colour photos, this is an uplifting exploration of our social history

Isaiah Berlin is considered one of the letter-writers of the 20th century... those who give into temptation to flick through will be infinitely rewarded

Sparkles with brilliance and generosity

Meticulously edited and footnoted.

So readable... wonderfully vivid portraits of Powell's famous acquaintances

Richly and movingly enjoyable... a tapestry of Powell's contemporaries

Publisher's description. A biography of the comic writer Anthony Powell, author of the million-word masterpiece A Dance to the Music of Time, from renowned British biographer Hilary Spurling. An insightful and surprising look into what drove the writer widely regarded as the English Proust.

Elkin is a beguiling writer, and resolutely female, her sentences doing what Virginia Woolf wanted women's sentences to do, which is to "hold back the male flood"… Flâneuse is a riposte to all that macho stomping about… Flâneuse is so rich with shining trinkets and wise thoughts that not a single page disappoints or bores. It's that rare thing these days - a work of feminism which is enthused by literature and art and ideas rather than pop culture.

Elkin explores the history of people and places in astonishing detail. She writes with a passion and personality that creates the kind of familiarity which encourages us to believe that the women she studies were close friends of hers… Elkin's first person, colloquial yet witty style lets you into the recesses of her imagination and invites you to be her travel companion

Lauren Elkin is one of our most valuable critical thinkers – the Susan Sontag of her generation

The acclaimed historian of Russia sweeps the brittle high society of pre-Revolutionary St Petersburg, the terror-chilled jails of Stalin's purges and the secrets of 1990s Moscow archives into a tragic panorama.'

A seamlessly written and moving portrait of the soviet Union in miniature from the Revolution to the age of Yeltsin.

What is striking is how he has thrown himself heart and soul into the romance and emotion of his drama. The novel throbs with sex, maternal feeling, revolutionary fervour and terror ... Terrific stuff