Stunning. The Dog bristles with prickly details and barbed observations . . . An incisive - and highly impressive - debut

A book of extraordinary power

Livings's magnificent debut collection of short stories, The Dog, all set in contemporary, or near-contemporary China, satisfies that basic readerly urge, pitched somewhere between escapism and anthropological curiosity, to be transported.

Livings writes so simply, and so well . . . These stories are sneaky, almost subliminal, in their ambitions and connections

What gives these stories their dark, upsetting grandeur is in every case the luminosity of hope, no matter how fragile, how vulnerable, how very nearly extinguished

A brilliant and promising debut. With its tales of volatile protagonists struggling to survive in contemporary China, The Dog should attract widespread attention and praise . . . Any unfamiliarity with the Chinese locales and culture is quickly eased by Livings's imaginative yet realistic scenarios and vividly drawn characters

Already causing excitement in America, Jack Livings's remarkable The Dog is an impressive clutch of stories showing post-Mao China

A socially complex and pitch-perfect account of modernization's grueling aftermath

A captivating read

Livings has a keen eye for details and a knack for dialogue

Touching and humane

Every word the author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry writes is a bittersweet dream. Christmas music, drunken Santas and unrealistic expectations are all on the menu in these linked stories that stretch from the last day of school term all the way through to New Year’s Eve. There’s even a donkey and a baby…

Joyce is warm and very funny, and she has a merciless eye for those nightmare moments when weaknesses are exposed and everything is called into question

A collection of domestic, family tales, looping themselves warmly around Christmas rituals ... Heart-warming

He can pull you into the heart of a new world with just two or three sentences, and deploys this talent with apparent ease… Haddon’s work is easy to relate to because it’s underpinned with razor-sharp clarity about what it means to be human.

Shows the breadth of his ability.

Terrific dark collection in which each story is as absorbing and powerful as the last. Not to be missed.

Echoing humanity. The title story is an exercise in style. Staccato sentences, like a ticker tape of headlines, describe the fall of a pier.

Highly anticipated collection.

The Pier Falls, published May, is a collection of nine brilliant short stories, perfect for dipping into when you have a spare moment.

Bleak but arresting stories.

Diverse in style but united in emotional power… Lyrical new collection… All showcase his virtuoso gifts as a stylist and the deep well of empathy that have made his bestselling novels so compelling... The Pier Falls showcases Haddon’s immense gifts of invention and penetrating insight.

Mark Haddon has become a master of the short story…this new collection intrigues and horrifies by turn

Gripping tale… Told with forensic precision.

Exuberant, lusty exercises in juxtaposition… Such contrasts not only power each piece but also act as a form of call and response across them… Terrifically compelling collection.

Impressive but forbiddingly lightless collection. There’s no doubt about Haddon’s skill.

Have you ever read a book that made you gasp out loud and nearly burst into tears? The title story…had that effect on me… Haddon is able to give human tragedy the due solemnity it deserves but without being po-faced. A wonderful collection.

Guaranteed to keep me riveted.

Gripping… Packs the action and themes that might power a very full novel into less than 70 pages

Scintillating first foray into the shorter form… Beautifully crafted… A challenging and idiosyncratic talent, with a memorable way with words.

[Haddon] portrays the nightmares of our own society…with astonishing deftness, mixing black humour and pathos.

The Pier Falls had me gasping in disbelief.

[It was] grim and compelling… [A] ripping, gripping yarn – narrative velcro.

I savoured all the atmospheric short stories in The Pier Falls.

An enthralling short story collection; dark, immersive stories with lots of action. The writing is tight and inspiring.

[A] searing collection of short stories that thrill and chill in equal measure.

I was also captivated by the dark A Pier Falls, a brilliantly written collection of bleak and brutal short stories.

I adored The Pier Falls… Each story is wildly entertaining and well written.

[It] proves the capacity of a short story to immerse the reader fully in a fictional world.

This short-story collection is thrilling and exquisitely written. I gave out several copies as Christmas presents.

An exquisite writer.

Mesmerisingly good stories, hugely varied, skilfully written, full of deft touches and narrative shocks... an absolute treat