The Life to Come

Is it possible we already have the year's best novel? I'll be amazed if anything surpasses this compulsive, exquisitely light-footed narrative...glorious. * Daily Mail *
De Kretser's satirical observations - on the literati, self-congratulation, suburban pretension - are so subtly deboning they remind me of Jane Austen's...The Life to Come deserves all the gongs we can bang for it. * The Spectator *
Exhilaratingly good writing...each page yields sparkling sentences and keen observations. * Literary Review *
[de Kretser's] writing captures, with unflagging wit, grace and subtlety, the spiritual as well as physical journeys of people on the move - between cultures, mindsets and stages of growth. -- Boyd Tonkin * Financial Times *
Funny and satirical, this is a biting look at the way we present ourselves and the way we are seen by others. * Stylist *
As always, Michelle de Kretser offers a wide compassionate view...Above all, there is the pleasure of her writing. * Times Literary Supplement *
Very few novels see through our times with such vision and perspicacity, such wit and compassion, and yet this profound book is the farthest thing imaginable from that journalistic demand made of literature, that it should "make sense of our times". It does, but not in any ways that you'd imagine. -- Neel Mukherjee * New Statesman *
Superb, ambitious and deeply moving * The Australian *
For a novel concerned with dislocation, there's a lot of grounding humour ...de Kretser's observations are so spot on, you'll forgive her even as you cringe. * New York Times *
A remarkable achievement...wise and abrasive, witty and poignant. * The Saturday Paper *
Her powers of description and evocation are remarkable...Michelle de Kretser has written a comic lament of disarming force. * Sydney Morning Herald *
My book of the year is Michelle de Kretser's The Life to Come, a sharp and unsettling novel - narcissism of all kinds is skewered here - that is deeply pleasurable to read. * Ceridwen Dovey, The Australian *
A joyful and mournful meditation on the endless small pleasures and complications of life...sure-footed and often surprising. * Publishers Weekly *