Grips from start to finish . . . Munich captures the mood of the times: the suspicion and the fear, the political intrigue, the swagger of the Nazi machine and the widespread elation at the mistaken belief that war has been averted. Superb.

Harris’s cleverness, judgment and eye for detail are second to none . . . his research is so impeccable that he could have cut all the spy stuff and published Munich as a history book. Harris’s treatment of Britain’s most maligned prime minister is so powerful, so persuasive, that it ranks among the most moving fictional portraits of a politician that I have ever read

An intelligent thriller . . . with exacting attention to historical detail

A gripping account of the negotiations between Britain and Germany in 1938 before the outbreak of war

Atmospheric and fast-paced literary thriller . . . [it] grips from start to finish . . . Superb

Unputdownable to the point of being dangerous: the house could have been on fire while I was reading and I wouldn’t have noticed

Harris makes the reader gasp at every turn, with a truly moving portrayal of Chamberlain as a man who did the wrong thing for the right reason

A brilliantly constructed spy novel set amid the politicking of Chamberlain’s last-ditch negotiations with Hitler

A tantalising addition to the inexhaustible game of “what if”?

A wonderful tale of personal relationships and political drama…This is a very, very good read

I enjoyed romping through Robert Harris’ Munich

Taut and finely paced novel . . . superbly observed . . . it is hard not to break out in a cold sweat just reading it….The details of railway carriages, hotel rooms, 10 Downing Street and even the Fuhrerbau in Berlin are faultless . . . an utterly compelling and fantastically tense historical thriller by a writer at the very top of his game.

What distinguishes Munich is the subtlety with which it uses the formulaic elements of the genre to explore the ethics of information and functions of bureaucracy

Fascinating . . . Seamlessly weaving his fictional tale into the real events of September 1938…Harris has once again shown himself to be a master storyteller

A novel of ideas and a gripping thriller… Harris is a marvellously compelling story-teller

With moral subtlety as well as storytelling skill, Harris makes us regret the better past that never happened — while mournfully accepting the bitter one that did

A fantastically entertaining historical novel that you won’t want to put down until you finish . . . For me, this is a better novel than Fatherland, which posited the ‘what if Hitler was still Fuhrer in 1964?’ scenario. It is altogether more grounded and serious, but equally enjoyable

Exerts a powerful grip

It’s hard to imagine how history can be told better

Lovely details. Clever Twists. Superb.

This novel is gripping from start to finish

As the latest in J Coe's Unrest sequence, Bournville is one of the most warm-hearted, brilliant and beguiling of his State of the Nation novels. To show three generations of an ordinary Midlands family, their paths taken and not taken, their friends, lovers, jobs, achievements and losses; to interweave this with 75 years of national history - and to do so with such a lightness of touch is a tremendous achievement. All the absurdities of our nation wrapped up in something as bitter, sweet, and addictive as a bar of the best Bournville chocolate

Affectionate, full of good humour, and often moving, this is Coe at his best.

Slips down a treat

For all the novel's satirical tang and historical sweep, it's at root a tender portrait of apparently simple folk trying to fathom the mystery of their own personalities

A tender portrayal of the state of the nation through the prism of family relationships

There is much to enjoy here, as in all Coe's novels . . . an intelligent criticism of our shared history since 1945

[Coe] has a huge talent for balancing humour with poignancy

Simultaneously intimate and transnational . . . this is deeply engaging, serious and beautiful writing that carries its echoing questions with grace

Compelling . . . Superb characterisation and sharp insights throughout make this an immensely enjoyable novel

Intelligent and enthralling

The Magician, Colm Tóibín's new novel about Mann, resists the shallow gestures of Hollywood biopics, reaching for something mainstream film couldn't get at, or wouldn't bother with. How does an artist create, and can a true artist live as the rest of us do?

This meticulously woven novel re-creates the life of Thomas Mann . . . An ode to a 20th-century genius and a feat of literary sorcery in its own right

The personal and public history is compelling . . . an intriguing view of a writer who well deserves another turn on the literary stage

[The Magician] vibrates with the strength of Mann's visions and the sublimity of Tóibín's mellifluous prose. Tóibín has surpassed himself

This vibrates with the strength of Mann's visions and the sublimity of Tóibín's mellifluous prose. Tóibín has surpassed himself

Compelling . . . Tóibín succeeds in conveying his fascination with the Magician, as his children called him, who could make sexual secrets vanish beneath a rich surface life of family and uncommon art . . . intriguing

Employing luxurious prose that quietly evokes the tortured soul behind these literary masterpieces, Tóibín has an unequalled gift for mapping the interior of genius

Literary lovers will want to sink into this absorbing reimagining of the life of the Nobel Prize-winning German writer Thomas Mann . . . Mann family members have their own struggles - with each other and a world where they rarely feel at home - all vividly brought to life

You don't have to be a Thomas Mann fan to be gripped by the account of his life that author Colm Tóibín delivers in his new novel . . . [Tóibín's] his biggest triumph is in getting to the heart of Mann's dilemma

A celebration of what novels can do

Devastatingly human . . . savage, sordid and hauntingly believable

Tremendous, richly beautiful, wonderful . . . it does everything we ought to ask of a great novel

Subtle and enthralling