Darkness Falls from the Air

One of the hopes of British novel-writing . . . A writer of genius -- John Betjeman
The missing writer of the Forties . . . Balchin's professional skill gives a meaning to brilliance which the word doesn't usually possess -- Clive James * NEW REVIEW *
[An] inexplicably neglected author * THE TIMES *
Balchin writes about timeless things, the places in the heart -- Ruth Rendell * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *
Balchin has been absurdly overlooked for too long -- Julian Fellowes
I'd place him up there with Graham Greene -- Philippa Gregory
Darkness Falls from the Air [has] the most perfect ending of any story I've ever read -- Patrick McGrath
A remarkable storyteller * DAILY MAIL *
A brilliant novelist . . . A writer of real skill * NEW STATESMAN *
He tells a story gloriously * DAILY TELEGRAPH *
Balchin has the rare magnetic power that draws the human eye from one sentence to the next * EVENING STANDARD *
Probably no other novelist of Mr. Balchin's value is so eminently and enjoyably readable . . . [He] never lets the reader down -- Elizabeth Bowen * TATLER *
Balchin has done so much to raise the standard of the popular novel * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *
A superb storyteller * SUNDAY TIMES *
Balchin can tell an exciting story as well as any novelist alive * SUNDAY CHRONICLE *
The novelist of men at work * GUARDIAN *
Mr. Balchin is a writer of such considerable and varied gifts . . . He is certainly one of the most intelligent novelists * TIME AND TIDE *
He can always be relied on to give us the set-up magnificently * BBC *
A little masterpiece like Nigel Balchin's The Small Back Room speaks to our own time, but with so much literary experience behind it -- Shirley Hazzard
One of the best writers, and certainly one of the best stylists, to come out of the war years -- Michael Powell
Perhaps the most successful British author to emerge during the war * SATURDAY EVENING POST *