Utterly enthralling - a beautifully written voyage of discovery that takes us deep into the heart of music-making.

A beguiling quest that draws its author from the Italian heartland of the violin to the edge of Asiatic Russia, told with a passion that is at once gentle and compelling.

Elegant and ambitious ... Attlee pursues her story with honesty, diligence and open-mindedness ... An original and refreshingly unorthodox approach to history

Attlee's love and unbounded enthusiasm for Italy shine through the pages ... She writes with zest about her sleuthing odyssey, her investigations into the art of lutherie and the dynasties dedicated to the crafting of these delightful objects. Whether it be a distant family history, the timber forests of the Dolomites or a momentary encounter, Attlee captures it in firm, fresh prose.

Attlee writes with rare beauty and sensitivity about music, and her love of Italian culture positively sings from the pages ... Deeply absorbing

In limpid, searching prose, Helena Attlee shows us how music can cast spells but also bridge the distance of centuries.

Charming and original ... Attlee has the natural storyteller's gift.

Charming ... Attlee tells the story in easy, luminous prose, infused with a deep understanding for the way human value accrues mysteriously in things, and in the act of making them

Reading Lev's Violin is like listening to a fine instrument: thoroughly relaxing but also exciting, fun yet deeply serious ... with constant surprises and charms

Illuminating, engrossing ... a wide-ranging exploration of the history and cultural significance of the Italian violin

Beguiling and truly original ... An amazing journey ... one of the joys is the glimpses it affords of forgotten historical byways and of a colourful, sometimes roguish cast of characters ... Attlee has such a wonderful way with words that as a reader you almost imagine you can see, as well as hear, Lev's violin

Seductive, captivating ... A book that pleases the more for so neatly resisting characterisation

Robert Douglas-Fairhurst pulls off an extraordinary trick of immersive history, taking a single year in Charles Dickens's life, 1851, and placing the personal story of one of the most extraordinary writers ever to have lived within his social and cultural context

It's amazing how eruditely Robert Douglas-Fairhurst manages to illuminate our history through a microscopic focus on one brief period.

Legacy of Violence is beautifully written and follows through on its arguments doggedly... This is an important book that deserves to be read by everyone who wants to understand and argue against the current attempt to reinvigorate the romance of the British Empire

A dark, riveting book... her [Elkins'] method is what gives the book its intensity

Fascinating... a real page-turner... the writing is backed up with considerable academic research... the evidence of systematic oppression, presented as powerfully and relentlessly as it is here, will be difficult to resist

Not so much a history book as a book of historical significance