Kit de Waal has written? a book that is absolutely right for the summer of 2020 . . . This is a book you could read on a journey, on a beach, in a single sitting between dinner and bedtime. And afterwards feel more connected to the world... It's a treat for her many existing fans - but new readers can very much start here

It's so good. Full of Kit's trademark humanity. I can feel my heart grow with every word

Stunning. What an experience, the brightest and most beautiful break in the clouds. Kit is in utter command of language and story here, and wields them like no other writer

Kit has the most marvellous gift of getting to the marrow of her characters and this collection of vignettes from the lives of her characters, peripheral, and not so peripheral, is a magnificent study of humanity in all its various sorrows. Her writing is exquisite, not a word is wasted and the stories are beautiful in their simplicity and truth

Written with such beauty

Stories of everyday lives that will resonate and move you utterly

Superb. [The characters] blaze into richly imagined lives full of loss, love, abandonment and heartfelt hope

An emotionally sure-handed novel exploring harrowing terrain with deft sensitivity

The unforgettable story of a boy struggling to belong. Heartbreaking and uplifting - just read it

Devastatingly emotional. De Waal's storytelling gives us the poetry and sorrow of life itself

Tender and heart-breaking