Days of Awe

The direct, acerbic writing here feels enjoyably characteristic of [Homes'] whole oeuvre...She narrates the stories in a pacy present tense, energised by amusing quips and details -- Lara Feigel * Observer *
Superb -- Tim Smith-Laing * Daily Telegraph *
Homes is... at her merciless satirical best in skewering the comedy of disappointment and dread, the squirm of self indulgence and self-justification' -- Tessa Hadley * Guardian *
Homes is a devastating satirist and many a passage is wickedly sharp... funny... The humour is complicated by a wistfulness and yearning , a lostness and sorrow, that's fruitfully inclusive -- Lionel Shriver * Financial Times *
Homes's dialogue is sharp, clever and often darkly funny -- Eithne Farry * Daily Mail *
Homes's keen ear for speech highlights the challenges of communicating -- Keziah Weir * Vanity Fair (US) *
At turns surreal, dark and occasionally - in one case literally - uplifting, there's plenty of acerbic wit in this collection by a mistress of the genre. Awe-inspiring -- Jaine Blackman * Oxford Times *
[Her] best stories are original and destabilising, at once melancholy and absurd... As ingenious as ever -- Hannah Rosefield * New Statesman *
Homes is one of the most provocative of American writers, and these stories are sure to be just as impressive -- Summer Books round up selected by John Boyne * Irish Times *
The corporeal body takes centre stage throughout [and] a distinctive black humour abounds... "Handle with care" is the warning that springs to mind -- Lucy Scholes * Independent *
These stories offer rich rewards -- Suzi Feay * Literary Review *
Unusually for a short story collection, Homes never misses a hit. That said, 'A Prize for Every Player'[...]is a particular triumph -- Katie Welsh * Diva *
These defiantly comic stories are like postcards from contemporary America -- Summer Books * Mail on Sunday *
Breathtakingly accurate satire and laser-cut portraits of American life from a seriously heavyweight author whose snapshots remained etched on the retinas -- ES Magazine * Evening Standard *
Puts a surreal slant on everyday America and celebrates the psyche at its most bizarre... Brilliantly biting stories -- Madeleine Kingsley * Jewish Chronicle *
Storytelling of the most exquisite kind - insightful, observant, wickedly funny and revealing of the human heart in all its complexity -- Helena Kennedy QC
[A] diverse and thoughtfully considered collection... Thought-provoking -- Diana Hendry * Spectator *
A short story collection that skewers the craziness of modern line, from the cult of consumerism to the false intimacy of social media * Good Housekeeping *
Homes has long been a master of exposing the lurid reality lying just beneath the everyday...There is horror of a higher sort, that of memory and mortality. Here there are tenacious terrors that linger long after you close the book * Prospect *
A satiric, surreal take on contemporary America...funny, outrageous, reflective and shot through with unexpected tenderness -- Joanne Hayden * Irish Independent *