This is a dark book, with a dark vision of contemporary Israel… The whole, rich, disturbing mixture makes one feel as if something dark is digging away at the foundations, something unnameable ready to emerge. It is one of the most powerful books you will read about present-day Israel.

These stories have both force and mystery, and they cast a quiet spell

A powerfully bleak portrait of loneliness, confusion and cracked bonds

These stories, in their humanity, may do more for Israel than any of the decisions we have been led to expect of its leaders in the months to come

I enjoyed Amos Oz's Scenes From Village Life a great deal... it explores what is universal, what is entirely idiosyncratic, about daily life in Israel away from the obvious conflicts

Oz's characters might be drawn from Chekhov: their lives seem an irresoluble muddle of sorrow, baffled hopes and missed chances; his compassion for them makes the reader care deeply about them, too. This is a wise, beautiful and enduring book

Potent and uncanny

The stories resemble an echo chamber of recurring themes, steeped in a strangeness and danger that lingers on like a dream'

Admirably rendered in English by Oz's longtime translator, Nicholas de Lange, these linked stories prove achingly melancholy... It is like a symphony... There is, in each story, a particular chord or strain; but taken together, these chords rise and reverberate, evoking an unease so strong it's almost a taste in the mouth... Scenes From Village Life is a brief collection, but its brevity is a testament to its force. You will not soon forget it

Impressive and very affecting

Oz beautifully captures the interplay of tensions in each character.

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

Ferris' characters may be flawed, but his writing is flawless

Each of these stories is a well-crafted, tightly wound piece of short fiction that often springs with a delightful, sometimes moving precision

Ferris wittily skewers both middle-class social life, and its would-be dissenters. He has a brilliantly sharp eye for the manners and mores of 21st-century metropolitan society, and is a master of discomfort. . . Like F Scott Fitzgerald before him, Joshua Ferris shines an unforgiving light on the jittery pursuit of happiness, and 'the growing anxiety of never arriving at what was always just out of reach'

At turns arresting and hilarious. Ferris excavates relationships, interactions, missteps, and misunderstandings to form a collection of work you'll want to return to again and again

Most of the characters are comparatively sane, but no less deliciously ghastly

Anxiety, self-consciousness and humiliation are the default inner states of the characters in these 11 stories

A strange, fantastical squelch through watery East Anglia...one of the most impressive collections of short stories in recent years

An undeniably enjoyable dose of escapism

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