Merivel

Social, political and physical labyrinth -- Frances Osborne * Evening Standard *
Satisfying... agreeably sardonic -- Quentin Letts * Daily Mail *
One of the great imaginative creations in English literature * Daily Telegraph *
An unadulterated delight * Independent *
Rich and satisfying -- Lindsay Duguid * Sunday Times *
A tour de force of literary technique, a treasure house of diligent research and imaginative ingenuity -- Jane Shilling * Telegraph *
Wonderfully entertaining -- Michael Holroyd * Guardian, Books of the Year *
Her feeling for the spirit of the times is triumphant -- Charlotte Moore * Spectator *
A rich, glowing portrait -- Daisy Hay * Observer *
Her characters laugh, cry, plot and flounder so convincingly that they take up residence in your head and refuse to go away -- Mary Crockett * Scotland on Sunday *
This book is richly marbled with intelligence, compassion and compelling characters, leavened with flourishes of lyricism and an attractive tolerance towards human frailties -- Angus Clarke * The Times *
What ultimately makes the book such a joy is simply being in Merivel’s company. His narration is by turns rueful, comic, despairing and joyful; but it’s always bursting with life, always good-hearted - and always entirely loveable -- James Walton * Daily Mail *
A delight -- Lucy Beresford * Literary Review *
At times witty and enchanting, on other occasions full of doubt and self-loathing, Merivel remains a stunning achievement. He is Everyman and speaks to us all -- Virginia Blackburn * Sunday Express *
Exuberance is a very hard thing to sustain in a novel… However, Tremain brings it off brilliantly. As one might expect, this is a very funny novel, full of picaresque adventure, hapless accidents and ingeniously wrought slapstick. However, it is also a very moving and beautiful novel. There are passages here which I found myself reading over and over again simply in order to savour them. Merivel: A Man of His Time may have been a long time coming, but it’s been well worth the wait -- John Preston * Mail on Sunday *
Merivelis excellent company. Writing with a mimic’s ear for conversation, whimsical one moment, grave the next, Tremain has an underlying preoccupation here: the last third of live, love and loss, loneliness and vanity -- Maggie Fergusson * Intelligent Life *