His fall into blindness had broken open his perception so that nothing escapes him . . . he has a clarity that is sometimes like clairvoyance

Well-chosen details represent more than themselves... The trick is to choose the details, which Mehta does with consummate, sly skill

Fascinating... Farndale's panoramic view of pre-war German society on the verge of irreparable change is persuasively evoked.

A novel rich in historical detail, but wearing its research lightly, and the story is told in a French Lieutenant's Woman kind of way, veering from the present to the past with superb flair. With the rise of the alt right again polluting our democracies, this novel has an uncomfortable prescience, with a plot twist at the end which is ingenious.

Enthralling... profound and moving, this is a beautifully written evocation of turbulent times.

A masterly exploration of conflicting loyalties set against the 1936 Olympic Games. Sharply characterised, richly atmospheric and completely engrossing.

A darkly compelling novel, powerfully evocative and beautifully written.

Farndale interweaves history and fiction in a heady mix... engrossing, intriguing and thought-provoking.

Selina Todd’s portrait of the artist against the backdrop of her changing times pays a warmly illuminating tribute to Delaney's unique voice… Todd shows in jaw-dropping detail the depth of the hostility to Delaney and her unapologetic work

Delaney was a trailblazer... Tastes of Honey is a biography of a writer whose output has – at times – been overshadowed by distorted versions of her story. By carefully emphasizing the radical qualities of Delaney’s oeuvre, and challenging many of the clichés that make up the mythology, Selina Todd offers a more nuanced view

Todd shows how Delaney anticipated the concerns of the Women's Liberation Movement of the 1970s, and reveals her continuing influence in the light of similar problems facing working-class women now…fascinating

Todd presents a warm but balanced view of a woman who made her own choices. Her work benefits from excellent digging in the BBC archives and many detailed interviews

Not just a terrific study of the life and work of an extraordinary talent but a bracing contextualisation of her in terms of class, culture, sex, youth, politics and the North. Selina Todd’s biography of Delaney is as tough, smart and lively as Shelagh herself

Sparky . . . captures what made that 1958 play [A Taste of Honey] an era-defining classic

A breezy, readable new biography… Todd’s portrait is enlivened by anecdotes from friends and family… she uses a polyphonic approach…including many examples from other ordinary women’s adjacent experiences

I...hugely enjoyed Tastes of Honey, Selina Todd’s heroic attempt to do the impossible and explain the life and work of the mysterious Shelagh Delaney. Alongside Andrea Dunbar, Delaney was our most unexpected and gifted postwar playwright

[A] brilliant biography