Light writes beautifully. With such colour and with perception and lyricism she clads the past....Common People is part memoir, part thrilling social history of the England of the Industrial Revolution, but above all a work of quiet poetry and insight into human behaviour. It is full of wisdom.

This book is a substantial achievement: its combination of scholarship and intelligence is, you may well think, the best monument you could have to all those she has rescued from time's oblivion.

Evocatively written...a thrilling and unnerving read

Exquisite...Barely a page goes by without something fascinating on it, betraying Light's skill in winkling out the most relevant or moving aspects of her antecedents' lives, which echo through the generations.

[A] short and beautifully written meditation on family and mobility.

Intellectually sound and relevant...a refreshingly modern way of thinking about our past.

Light [is skilled] in probing dark corners of her ancestry and exposing their historical meaning...packed with humanity.

Beautifully written and exhaustively researched, Alison Light makes her family speak for England.

A remarkable achievement...should become a classic.

Beautifully crafted and scrupulously researched… The Zhivago Affair is a prime example of hard work and fidelity to a good story

As gripping as any spy thriller

Fascinating...With a delightful eye for detail

Finn and Couvée deal objectively with the characters involved and tell the story with exceptional vivacity

A thrilling literary espionage yarn...sheds new light on the Cold War struggle for the hearts and minds of millions of people

A fascinating tale that sheds new light on the literary front of the Cold War

High dudgeon, high stakes, high art

A wonderful book

A fast-paced political thriller about a book that terrified a nation

Brisk and thrilling...expertly told...a triumphant reminder that truth is sometimes gloriously stranger than fiction

Groundbreaking reporting and character-rich storytelling... Passionately written...almost makes one nostalgic for a time when novels were so important that even the CIA cared about them

A sparkling and fascinating account

Well-paced narrative...of great relevance today, when such conflicts seem (but only seem) to have disappeared.

Immensely compelling

Meticulously researched

The true strength of this meticulously researched book is the placing of the revelations into the context of a compelling human drama

Engrossing

[An] outstanding treasure of literature

Impeccably researched, and moving, this book breaks new ground