This year's Eleanor Oliphant . . . Funny, bittersweet and wholly original.

A glorious, life-affirming story. I read it in a day. I’m going to buy it for so many people this year!

I love this gorgeous book. Unflinching, stubborn, funny and moving, Veronica is an unlikely heroine who will sneak in and capture your heart.

A warm and witty journey of self-discovery. Prior proves that it’s never too late to become the person you were meant to be.

A warm-hearted and life-affirming tale about ageing, human kindness, old-fashioned values and protecting our planet.

A touching, uplifting tale.

Love is not simple; it is the most complex of all the experiences we encounter. Caring for an orphaned penguin liberates the love Veronica had withheld for decades. At the age of eighty-six, the world is all at once at her feet. I commend this novel as a work of art, written in a prose so fluent that it all but reads itself to you. And the creation of the character of Veronica, just by itself, deserves high praise.

White-hot

This caper has Alvina up to her neck in designer labels, hot sex and trouble . . . outrageous

I just read Mad in one go. I bloody LOVED it. Like Gone Girl, if Amy Schumer had written it. SUCH fun

Allergic to chick lit? Meet Alvie Knightly . . . Insane as its title promises

Raunchy, fun

Trust us when we say that you won't ever have encountered a character quite like Alvie Knightly . . . A brilliantly bonkers read

Like The Devil Wears Prada - fast-paced, but funnier and more readable

If you loved Paula Hawkins's Into the Water, try Mad

She's an evil hot mess is what she is, and I kinda like it!

Pure, unadulterated entertainment. There is nothing Chloé Esposito's Alvie won't do. Strap in for a fun, fast and fresh read

A compelling and uncensored antiheroine

An unforgettable summer debut

Deliciously over-the-top, with a protagonist you'll never forget

Such a tender read. Astute and compassionate, it made me cry. It's full of love. And it's quietly magnificent

A perfect combination of deeply-felt tragedy with great hopefulness

A remarkable book

A superb second novel that goes to places you mightn't expect but which ultimately end up making a great deal of sense. It touches on a lot thematically and doesn't ever suggest that any one life path can be a cure for severe mental illness and it does some things that... are very pleasing indeed. I had a LOT OF FEELINGS

Loved it. Beautiful and original

A beautifully observed saga of abandoned dreams, loss and self-discovery

Absolute poetry and a love letter to family and to the arts. The depiction of depression is as accurate as any I've read and the empathy in this book is beautiful

Powerful, intimate, moving - a beautiful exploration of love and family

This will touch your soul

Cullen's atmospheric novel captures beautifully the continuity of life even at times of deepest grief. If we avoid tragedy in literature, we're closing ourselves off to some of the most powerful and moving writing, as exemplified by Helen Cullen's second novel which deals delicately and humanely with the subjects of mental health and the ravaging effects of grief

An Irish novel moves from a family's joy to tragedy and back in this poignant yet hopeful novel spanning the late 1970s to 2015

Cullen's lyrical prose drives the immersive and heart-wrenching narrative. This complex study of depression and its impact on family dynamics will lure readers

Love is here in spades... clear a weekend for this gorgeous read

Praise for Helen Cullen

If you liked Harold Fry and Me Before You, you will love Cullen's nostalgic debut. This life-affirming book will draw you in and keep you there

Delightful

Deeply moving

I found myself totally transported into William's poignant and beguiling world of lost opportunities and love

This will touch your soul

Cullen's writing is precise, haunting and, above all, beautiful . . . has the twin ability to inspire you to take delight in the world, yet also cry with the pain that unfolds in its pages

Deals delicately and humanely with the subjects of mental health and the ravaging effects of grief . . . ultimately a hopeful read that lives long in the memory

Cullen's quietly devastating novel is both a family saga and a careful exploration of the realities of living with mental health issues

A thoroughly moving and frequently funny story of love and compassion

A tender and unflinching exploration of mental illness and how it can eat into the heart of a family. Full of empathy and genuinely moving, a novel that will stay with me for a long time

Pulsating with perceptive wit . . . entertaining

Great for fans of Liane Moriarty

Whips along with feel-good momentum, driven by warmth and love

Warm, witty, perceptive. Anne Tyler on laughing gas

Written with true warmth and wit

Praise for Emma Straub

It's the beautifully drawn, vibrant characters that make this smart, compelling novel so irresistible

Funny, poignant and beautifully observed

Straub writes beautifully and amusingly . . . hard to beat for sheer charm and gentle wit

Smart and entertaining

Hugely talented . . . intelligent holiday reading

Warm and big-hearted . . . leaves you smiling for days

Straub writes with such verve and sympathetic understanding of her characters . . . Reading this novel has all the pleasures of reading one of Anne Tyler's compelling family portraits

A funny and insightful look at love and relationships

Written with true warmth and wit

A smart, cool sensibility

Lovely, satisfying

Smart and fresh, offering new insights into the lives of people all around us

Thoughtful and hilarious

It would be easy to compare Straub to other masters of the genre like Meg Wolitzer or Jennifer Egan, but she's already a master in her own right

Wise and often hilarious

Readers will devour this witty and warmly satisfying novel

A precise and observant writer whose supple prose carries the story along without a snag. Straub's characters are a quirky and interesting bunch . . . it's a pleasure spending time with them

Devilishly observed

Sprinkled with humour and insight

Straub is consistently excellent

A warm-hearted and wise tale of a family in trouble. Packed full of sharp observations and laugh-out-loud lines

Her writing just gets better and better . . . Grown Ups is funny and clever in the way it tackles addiction and eating disorders and the hurly burly of family life

A sharp satire of family dynamics and the trappings of wealth. It is a delicious thing - light and dark at once, full of acid observations and warmth, and fully attuned to the absurdities of familial life

An entertaining story of family dynamics packed with vibrant characters, humour and empathy

A sharp, wry tale about a seemingly happy family with contemporary problems . . . despite the traumas, you'll whizz through it with a smile on your face

Keyes's captivating 14th novel tackles difficult issues with a sparkling style that makes it impossible to put down

Marian Keyes is the most wonderful writer. She just gets better and better. She is a writer who believes in the best of us. She shows people's foibles but she also shows the love that binds us together in a very real way

Her novels tackle hard subjects with such humour and warmth its impossible not to be drawn in

Another high-definition family comedy. An intoxicating, effervescent and warm look at modern life

A delightful and insightful examination of the modern family

Laughter and tears intertwine, as ever, in the latest from our leading chronicler of the emotional messiness of contemporary life

The strength of this book lies in its relatability factor - I laughed, cried, nodded in recognition and laughed again

Shines a light on the frustrations and gripes of family life, while inviting us to laugh at the petty reality of it all

A book to fall into and while away hours with

Funny, thought-provoking and hitting you right in the feels, Marian Keyes does it again

I loved this complex family drama . . . Keyes nails every character she touches while keeping it all so relevant

Praise for Marian Keyes

Mercilessly funny

Everything this woman touches turns to comic gold

Comic, convincing and true. The warmth and empathy of Keyes's writing shine through this tale of family secrets revealed.

Clever, hilarious, poignant . . . Gloriously funny

Wildly funny, romantic and nearly impossible to put down

Her writing is a lovely mixture of funny and perceptive and bittersweet

Full of brilliantly funny characters, genuine emotion and heaps of charm

Her books are humorous and have the quality of a warm bath

Classic Marian Keyes: a blizzard of wit and wisecracks

Keyes is an international treasure. The ultimate choice for a binge read

When it comes to writing page-turners that put a smile on your face and make you think, Keyes is in a class of her own

Fabulously entertaining. The queen of intelligent women's fiction

Full of darkness and light, this is Keyes at her classic and most brilliant best

Keyes writes about women who are absolutely themselves, even when society tries to insist they are something else

Glorious, life-affirming

Marian's glorious, warm-hearted wit is always guaranteed to make me laugh on the very first page

There is no finer writer than Marian Keyes

She really is unparalleled when it comes to making serious points with the lightest of touches

Hilariously wise

Brutal yet endearing honesty, wonderful humour and astonishing acumen

Keyes writes extremely well about modern women. Candid and deeply felt

Marian Keyes has an unparalleled talent for making you howl with laughter, nod in recognition and think at the same time

Always brilliant - and brilliantly funny

A publishing sensation

There are few fiction writers today with as much verve and sense of independence as Marian Keyes