Upstairs at the Party

Praise for We Had it So Good 'Compelling, perceptive and deeply humane' - Michael Arditti, Daily Mail 'Gripping and stylishly told. Post-war California, Oxford and London are recreated superbly and brightly . . . Grant comes close to creating the perfect novel' - Melissa Katsoulis, The Times 'My only complaint? I fear I may not read a better book all year' - Rosamund Urwin, Evening Standard 'Ambitious . . . Like the best novels, it makes you examine your own moral compass alongside that of its characters' -- Viv Groskop * Observer * There's a thoughtful pessimism about this novel that makes it the finest of elegies for the dreams of 50 years ago -- John Sutherland * The Times * It's Grant's heartfelt emotional complexity that you'll remember long past the last page * Stylist * Her eye for social history is as sharp as ever -- Suzy Feay * Tablet * Grant always writes with incisive elegance and here paints a compelling picture of 1970s England . . . a stunner -- Ian Rankin * Guardian * A wonderfully and perceptively written story, which rings utterly true, and as a consequence lifts the spirits * Guardian * I read this deeply felt, deeply moving, novel twice. It's very good -- John Sutherland * The Times * Upstairs at the Party feels like a darker, more cynical version of Kate Atkinson's Emotionally Weird . . . a very good book: it creates a sense of yearning through a cloud of scepticism * Observer * Grant is so accomplished a novelist of recent social history . . . tender and touching -- Suzy Feay * Literary Review * One of our best modern authors, a Liverpudlian with a huge imagination. I've never been able to stop reading any of her work once I've started -- Peter Hitchens * Mail on Sunday * Fascinating -- John Sutherland * The Times * Brilliantly observed . . . determinedly unsettling * Daily Mail * A stylish, ambitious novel * Glamour * An enthralling coming-of-age story * Good Housekeeping * [An] excellent novel . . . Straight-talking but far from straightforward in its observations, Upstairs at the Party's portrait of an era is convincing, its subtle cynicism regarding the pitfalls of freedom something to mull over * Daily Telegraph * A hint of Brideshead . . . beautiful writing . . . [Grant] has a real knack for observation * Evening Standard * Haunting . . . compelling right to the very last page * List *