Dazzling...the panache and subtlety of his prose perfectly match that gusto and creative finesse of the High Victorian world his novel wonderfully evokes * Sunday Times *
A novel I'd recommend to anyone: a rollicking and moving story... Delicious and clever late-Victorian gothic -- James Naughtie * Radio Times *
An ingenious novel... O'Connor's work is hugely impressive and utterly haunting * Sunday Mirror *
Joseph O'Connor is a very great artist and storyteller. The quotient of enjoyment in his extraordinary new novel is stupendous -- Sebastian Barry
A hugely entertaining book about the grand scope of friendship and love, it is also, movingly - at times, astonishingly - a story of transience, loss and true loyalty -- Sadie Jones * Guardian *