The Great Swindle

The vast sweep of the novel and its array of extraordinary secondary characters have attracted comparisons with the works of Balzac. Moving, angry, intelligent - and compulsive -- Marcel Berlins * The Times *
A big, swirling tale that itself reads like a 19th-century novel ... thick with detail, immersing the reader in its elaborately bleak world -- Sarah Lyall * New York Times *
This book is thick with detail, immersing the reader in its elaborately bleak world ... an irresistible story -- Patricia Wall * New York Times *
Exceptionally powerful examination of the aftermath of war and of the people whose lives were washed away in its wake -- Nick Rennison * Sunday Times *
Lemaitre's novel is a rare synthesis of the tragic and the comic - a masterclass in nail-biting suspense ... Frank Wynne is a superb translator who captures the rude exuberance of the original French -- Edward Wilson * Independent *
Engrossing . . . one of the most pleasurable reading experiences of recent years -- David Mills * The Sunday Times *
Lemaitre's deadpan ironic tone is beautifully caught by his regular translator Frank Wynne. A kind of Ealing comedy with a bruised but still beating heart, this is the most purely enjoyable book I've read this year * Sunday Express *
A fast-paced tale, filled with twists and turns, following a mischievous, disillusioned view of post-war France * Figaro *
A masterly epic of post-war France, where impostures triumph and capitalists grow rich from the ruins * Le Monde *
You feel the author's indignation ... Who really profits from war? Crooks, the vengeful and frauds: The Great Swindle is political as much as it is picaresque * Télérama *