Wood is not just a keen critic, our best, but a superb writer

A close reader of genius... Illuminating and exciting and compelling... one never doubts the soundness of his judgements... There is wonderful writing throughout this collection, by turns luscious and muscular, committed and disdaining, passionate and minutely considered

He is one of literature's true lovers, and his deeply felt, contentious essays are thrilling in their reach and moral seriousness

Magnificent... Like all good critics, he is a story-teller of the art of reading, recreating the experience on the page for us

We have very few critics who can vie with Jarrell and Toynbee, who can remind us that talking about literature is a part of what literature is about, and talking about it with passion, precision, and out of a rich store of reading is a rare and precious gift: it is good for all of us that James Wood has it and we have James Wood

He is a true critic: an urgent, impassioned reader of literature, a tireless interpreter, a live and learned intelligence, good writing company

A book that makes you feel, having closed it, as if your mind has been oxygenated

He speaks in a manner dedicated to establishing no less than the truth

an eccentric but charming and instructive book which is oddly difficult to put down

Extraordinary... She allows her book to grow and swell, like a symphony, expanding and deepening its themes until the traditional wisdom and life of the mountain envelopes you entirely. Rather like a spell, in fact.

It soars with the luminous prose and unflinching honesty we have come to expect from this brilliantly gifted writer. Elixir is an extraordinary, profoundly moving book... Her prose is breathtaking, the stories heartbreaking.

A joyous celebration of the Pomak community in southern Bulgaria.