Breathtakingly brilliant . . . there have been many books about Sparta and its warrior code, but none have captured so magnificently the hearts, minds and spirits of the warriors who fought at Thermopylae. This is a work of rare genius. Savour it!

Incredibly gripping, moving and literate . . . rarely does an author manage to recreate a moment in history with such mastery, authority and psychological insight

Brings the battle of Thermopylae to brilliant life . . . when you finish Pressfield's work, you will feel you have fought side by side with the Spartans. This novel is Homeric

A tale worthy of Homer, a timeless epic of man and war, exquisitely researched and boldly written. Pressfield has created a new classic

Meticulously researched and plotted like a noir thriller, The German Heiress tells a different story of WWII - of characters grappling with their own guilt and driven by the question of what they could have done to change the past.

Anika Scott's epic novel offers a captivating tour through the reckoning years that followed WWII when clarifying identities, unearthing truths, and facing judgements was the only way to rebuild a life. The novel's heroine marches along the razor's edge between the leviathan of the past and a future full of mine shafts. I will never forget her unending struggle to rise above the dark lineage thrust upon her and her battle to stay connected to the deep binds of love, responsibility, and compassion.

A powerful, profound debut by a journalist with a gift for storytelling.

Anika Scott's riveting novel compellingly explores the nature of innocence and guilt, and the human desire for redemption. A terrific book with historical detail skillfully woven into the fabric of the story. An absolute must-read for all fans of World War II fiction!

[A] fascinating area to look at ... a tense, noirish plot with dangers at every turn ... It's a fascinating world of ambiguity, in an area we so often think of as being black and white ...The historical details and descriptions are well-drawn ... the story moved along quickly and compellingly - yes I stayed up late to finish it.

Anika Scott's finely drawn characters in The German Heiress bring to life not only the struggle to rise from the ashes of war, but also the depth of resolve often required to gain redemption. Illuminating and beautifully rendered.

Powerfully told and rich in atmosphere.

What a great debut! It still haunts me, days after finishing it.

I felt as though I was walking through the rubble of Essen and shivering in the bitter cold right alongside Clara Falkenberg. In this haunting and atmospheric novel, Anika Scott delivers a nuanced and emotional
look at the often un-talked about side of WWII - the devastation of German towns and cities and the weight of conscience on those who remain. [It's] is a powerful reminder that no one gets out unscathed.

Scott's magnetic debut follows one woman's quest for survival amid the devastation of post-WWII Germany ... Fans of WWII fiction will be intrigued by Scott's exploration of how war changes the moral compass of its victims.

A gripping murder mystery set in an alternative 1950s Britain. Rubin's London, split between American and Soviet zones after a disastrous World War Two, is vividly realised and his story is elegantly constructed. One not to miss

In the great tradition of SS-GB and Fatherland, Rubin's alternative-1950s murder mystery takes an ingenious premise - the Americans and the Soviets have carved up Britain between them after rescuing the country from the Nazis - and makes it come alive through sheer storytelling skill

Immersive

A lovely novel by a writer who lives and breathes France

Another terrific, intelligent read from Faulks

A gripping book that I devoured in about three days; this dark book reminds us of the history that lurks around every street corner

Gaël Faye makes us smile, despite the seriousness of his words

What is autobiographical, and what imagined? In the end it doesn’t matter, when he Gaël Faye gives life to the lost land of his childhood, with poetry and modesty

Small Country is a stirring and graceful tale of stolen innocence and fragmented identity. Hopeful, raw and deeply human, it is a modern classic in the making.

An excellent novel, a model of restraint and quiet literary sophistication

Cherry, Nico Walker’s outstanding debut, is a hard-hitting, ghoulishly funny novel about drug addiction, war and bank robbery.

Heartbreaking, unadorned, radically absent of pretense, Cherry is the debut novel America needs now, a letter from the frontlines of opioid addiction and, almost subliminally, a war story.

Nico Walker’s Cherry is a wrenching, clear-eyed stare-down into the abyss of war, addiction and crime, a dark tumble into scumbaggery, but it’s also deeply humane and truly funny. That is one of the reasons I love it so much: it makes you laugh and ache at the same time, in the manner of the great Denis Johnson.

One of the most exciting new American novelists.

Heavily indebted to the profane blood, guts, bullets, and opiate-strewn absurdities dreamed up by Thomas McGuane, Larry Brown, and Barry Hannah, Cherry tells a story that feels infinitely more real, and undeniably tougher than the rest.

A bruising dispatch from the frontline of the American opioid crisis… the final quarter [of Cherry] rushes by in a cold sweat.

[An] incendiary debut… Nico Walker writes with real rhythm, exhibiting a poet’s discrimination about adjectival choice and the relative length of clauses. It is a rare and remarkable achievement to turn such suffering into a novel of such finely calibrated beauty.

A gritty, addictive read.

I think everyone should read it – it is so horrific.

A well-received return to form

Astonishingly bold novel… [It] is Amis’s best work in years

Amis’s best work since Money