In the Light of Morning

Tim Pears has made the battle zone of family life in provincial England his own fertile fictional terrain…The novel succeeds in illuminating a pivotal moment in world history, while casting a steady light back on England…Rather like Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient, this is an intimate tale of a few individuals poised at a moment when one epoch gives way to another. -- Maya Jaggi * Guardian *
[T]he characters are beautifully and economically drawn, and he is excellent on the sights and especially the smells of the landscape – the beauty even of a war-torn land. * The Times *
Brilliantly nail-biting. Tim Pears tackles the horrors and ambiguity of war with his usual deft observance, in this depiction of a largely forgotten World War II slideshow in Eastern Europe. * Daily Mail *
Superb … a thought provoking, lyrical and deeply humane book * Sunday Business Post *
Pears’s prose, with its sensuousness and subtlety, is a fine vehicle for the intelligent, unsentimental tale he tells. * Sunday Times *
[A] compelling, heartbreaking book * Sunday Herald *
The author’s depiction of this psychological turmoil is delicate and respectful … a fine novel with wide appeal * Irish Examiner *
I have never failed to be impressed by the quality of his writing and the inventiveness of his story lines…The book unfolds with some remarkably well-written set-pieces. Relationships are clarified, enemy (and allied) plots are uncovered and the inevitable conflict eventually occurs with a great disruption to souls and bodies. * A Common Reader *
For his economical yet beautiful prose I fully enjoyed this book. This is an intelligent and quietly absorbing story with a graceful writing style. * Bookmunch *
Compelling * Choice magazine *