Warner writes with the delicacy of a tightrope walker...the result is exhilarating

A fine sheen of intelligent humour...acute and alive

Reminiscent of AS Byatt's short stories, Marina Warner's tales glimmer with the cerebral pickings of a true culture vulture

Sparkles with her inimitable and sophisticated style. These tales, both crisp and lyrical, form a cosmopolitan mixture of art history, magic, fairytale and urban myth

Exhilarating

Sprightly and inventive

Her exactness and lightness of touch in scene-setting are used to superb effect in her short stories...Tremain is restless in her exploration of voices

This collection is a jewel-box containing gems of near perfection... She's a consistently superior writer. Do yourself - and literature - a service: Read her

Rose Tremain is a prolific and much lauded writer but here she is at her best

Painful moments of self-revelation are expertly drawn

Striking collection of stories

As you would expect, the stories in this collection involve a certain amount of cultural tourism to the lower depths, undertaken with black humour... Welsh's relish for degradation covers up a strong sentimental streak

Welsh's transcription of Scots dialect is brilliant... Welsh also has a fabulous sense of the absurd... The overall vibe of these stories is dark and grim. And fierily, fiercely funny