An absorbing, sweeping novel that grabs readers from the touching opening page onwards - there's no half heartedness

Of the many versions of Homer's epic, this is the first - with apologies to James Joyce - to do justice to the women in the story. Touching and engaging

Adele Geras's Ithaka is authentic. It's as worked and reworked as Penelope's weaving as she waits for Odysseus post Troy, but it's seamless

Geras brings the story to life with characters whose behaviour and reactions seem very contemporary . . . The pace is gentle, and some difficult subjects are handled with sensitivity

Droll and melancholy, wry and touching, King Matt is a fable that offers a fierce, truthful picture of children struggling to make sense of grown-up nonsense... This small masterpiece is a rare tribute to the psychological depth and marvellous workings of a child's heart and mind

For the world today, Janusz Korczak is a symbol of true religion and true morality

A rediscovered kid's fantasy to enthral a new generation. Nearly seven decades before a kid named Harry pottered about with magic, Janusz Korczak's orphan boy King Matt the First captivated children all across Europe. Matt's message of hope shines past Korczak's tragic end in 1942 at a Nazi death camp with 200 Jewish orphans he refused to abandon

Matt is clearly an ancestor of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's Little Prince

To portray divorce with humour and sympathy takes great skill and Jacquline Wilson demonstrates she has this in abundance with this delightful book. . . . A wonderful, moving, yet funny book - a special read

Honest, angry, sometimes sad and always very readable . . . Adults could learn something here about the emotional turmoil suffered by a child with divided loyalties

Dido is compelling and beautifully written

What a fantastic job Adel Geras has done bringing these characters to life

Full of suspense and the characters were written so well that you were really pulled into their lives

The book comes billed as "a passionate tale of love, betrayal and revenge" - and it is indeed, an excellent, intelligent read which will stretch minds just as it will stretch vocabularies. It is vivid in the world it creates, intriguing as it takes you there and satisfying when it leaves you

Adele Geras gave us brilliant evocations of the ancient world with Troy and Ithaka. With Dido she again takes a classical setting and story and breathes freshness, and above all an up-to-date connection, into the people and the places whilst skilfully remaining faithful to her sources