Sanctuary

'Tom Gaisford’s gripping novel explores an urgent subject – the UK’s inhumane treatment of asylum seekers…(it is) both affecting and memorable.’

-- Lucy Popescu, Chair of the Author’s Club and the Best First Novel Award; Book reviewer for The Observer, Financial Times, TLS, Guardian, Independent, Literary Review, New Humanist and Huffington Post

‘Every scenario was beautifully done whether amongst lawyers or asylum seekers, convincing and moving in some cases, and excellent and believable characters…I could not stop reading it...’ 

-- Rebecca Fraser, author

‘I really loved this book, which is nothing if not original. Gaisford combines rich and humorous dialogue, beautifully filmic description, searching questions about our treatment of asylum-seekers, and a deftly-woven, romantically-charged plot, to create something truly unprecedented.’

-- Lorelei King, actress and multi-award-winning narrator of audiobooks

‘Very clever… The storyline about an immigration lawyer posing as an asylum-seeker to expose iniquities is a real brainwave…The idea of a book within a book is also ingenious…’ 

 

-- Anthony Gardner, author, journalist and founding editor of the Royal Society of Literature’s magazine RSL

‘Alex the human rights lawyer is one of the most vivid and compelling protagonists I've come across in ages. Sharp as tacks at work, fairly clueless when it comes to women, somehow he manages to be both rude and charming, cunning and gauche, cynical and romantic, all at the same time. Gaisford's insider knowledge makes his cleverly constructed legal thriller a compulsive and genuinely enlightening read. Alex's passionate hope is that a story can change the public's perception of asylum seekers. Maybe this one will.'

-- Suzi Feay, Financial Times critic and broadcaster

‘Passionate and atmospheric, both as a love story and a ferocious drama set in the murky world of asylum policy and practice, written with deep insight, exciting twists and insolent good humour.’

-- Robert Bathurst

'Gripping, heartfelt, memorable'

-- Robert Winder, former literary editor of The Indepen