Funny, nostalgic and ironic

A vivid, honest and enchanting evocation

A charmer

The stories are atmospheric, but it is O'Neill's open-minded examination of her own position in relation to the women, the history and the writing that makes this book a work of art

Gilda O'Neill has brought to life a time when women relished simple pleasures and the close friendships formed while working alongside one another each summer

The (pearly) queen of East End memoirists

A captivating story beautifully told ... and what an inspiration for anyone who dreams of a life on the stage

Dance historians will be as charmed by this sidelight on dance as ambitious girls will be inspired by Lynne's description of the dancer's life as an amalgam of "the Impossible and the Spiritual all wrapped up with a ribbon of passion

Sincere and unpretentious... She paints [...] a picture of austerity Britain in which ballet was a supremely glamorous career path.

A charming and moving portrait of a wartime childhood and an extraordinary account of what it takes to make it on stage ... I couldn't put it down

An intriguing and moving account of a young girl's balletic ambitions during wartime. Wonderfully readable, spirited and honest

I loved this book ... her energy, enthusiasm and passion are present in every line, and her commitment to the theatre and her determination to excel make for a fascinating and thoroughly absorbing read.

This is a remarkable book which I read overnight. It's gripping, touching, eye-opening and pitch perfect about a period of time almost lost from view. Gillian Lynne's tenacity's palpable from the outset. Definitely one to savour and treasure.

In A Dancer in Wartime, Gillian Lynne canters through her amazing experiences like the thoroughbred she is

A warm, affectionate portrait of the ballet world, and of success tinged with sadness

Thrilling

Utterly fascinating, and grippingly well-written. With extraordinary skill Wade Davis manages to weave together such disparate strands as Queen Victoria's Indian Raj, the 'Great Game' of intrigue against Russia, the horrors of the Somme, and Britain's obsession to conquer the world's highest peak

Davis’ descriptions of the trenches – the bodies, the smell, the madness – are some of the best I’ve ever read

Sheds new light on history that we thought we knew... meticulously detailed and very readable

The miracle is that there isn’t a dull page. As it moves towards its deadly climax, the story hangs together as tightly as a thriller. Into the Silence is as monumental as the mountain that soars above it; small wonder that it won the 2012 Samuel Johnson prize for non-fiction … Once you start wandering the snowy passes with Mallory and the lads, you won’t want to come down again. There can be no better way, surely, to spend a week in winter

He sees the climbers as haunted dreamers, harrowed by their desperate experiences in the First World War, living amid romantic dreams of Imperial grandeur and the elemental, sublime grandeur of the mountain

This is the awesomely researched story of Mallory, Irvine and the early Everest expeditions. It puts their efforts and motivations into the context of Empire and the first world war in a way I don’t think previous books have ever managed

A vivid depiction of a monumental story…Wade Davis’ passion for the book shines through and I can only hope that his next book doesn’t take as long to write as I will certainly be reading it