Merivel

One of the great imaginative creations in English literature Daily Telegraph An unadulterated delight Independent Rich and satisfying -- Lindsay Duguid Sunday Times A tour de force of literary technique, a treasure house of diligent research and imaginative ingenuity -- Jane Shilling Telegraph Wonderfully entertaining -- Michael Holroyd Guardian, Books of the Year Her feeling for the spirit of the times is triumphant -- Charlotte Moore Spectator A rich, glowing portrait -- Daisy Hay Observer Her characters laugh, cry, plot and flounder so convincingly that they take up residence in your head and refuse to go away -- Mary Crockett Scotland on Sunday This book is richly marbled with intelligence, compassion and compelling characters, leavened with flourishes of lyricism and an attractive tolerance towards human frailties -- Angus Clarke The Times What ultimately makes the book such a joy is simply being in Merivel's company. His narration is by turns rueful, comic, despairing and joyful; but it's always bursting with life, always good-hearted - and always entirely loveable -- James Walton Daily Mail A delight -- Lucy Beresford Literary Review At times witty and enchanting, on other occasions full of doubt and self-loathing, Merivel remains a stunning achievement. He is Everyman and speaks to us all -- Virginia Blackburn Sunday Express Exuberance is a very hard thing to sustain in a novel. However, Tremain brings it off brilliantly. As one might expect, this is a very funny novel, full of picaresque adventure, hapless accidents and ingeniously wrought slapstick. However, it is also a very moving and beautiful novel. There are passages here which I found myself reading over and over again simply in order to savour them. Merivel: A Man of His Time may have been a long time coming, but it's been well worth the wait -- John Preston Mail on Sunday Merivel is excellent company. Writing with a mimic's ear for conversation, whimsical one moment, grave the next, Tremain has an underlying preoccupation here: the last third of live, love and loss, loneliness and vanity -- Maggie Fergusson Intelligent Life Tremain writes beautifully about Reniassance England but it's the glittering paradoxes of Merivel's character that here leap fully formed from the page -- Claire Allfree Metro Tremain's novel experiments continually with light and shade - she expertly paints a picture with three dimensions and real feeling -- Lesley McDowall Scotsman