Daughters of The Labyrinth

'Daughters of the Labyrinth is a novel about a daughter's passionate quest for the truth about what happened to her parents in Crete during the German occupation. It is also a sumptuous and sensuous evocation of Crete itself, its landscape and culture. Ruth Padel's brings a poet's eye to this world of great physical beauty and gnarled legacy' * Colm Toibin * 'Ruth Padel brings a poet's ear for internal musical pattern, and deep and loving knowledge of the stones, light and colours of Crete, as she winds us into coils within coils of a family's dark history. She combines dramatic storytelling with moving reflectiveness, asking us to think again about whether it is better to remember or to forget?' * Marina Warner * 'Animated by keen imaginative empathy and a strong sense of place, this moving, satisfying, layered novel will transport you to the amethyst Aegean' * Daily Mail * 'A moving, superbly written exploration of a family with dark secrets. Crete itself becomes one of the main characters in the story.' * Irish Times, Best Books 2021 * 'A thought-provoking novel of identity, history and our times.' * The New European * 'A slow-burner of a novel, lyrical and psychologically astute.' * Mail on Sunday * 'An immersive novel, steeped in the history and folklore of Crete: transporting, historically informative story-telling' * Sunday Times * 'Entrancing - a wonderfully rich and absorbing novel, delightful in its evocation of Crete and its many-layered history.' * The Scotsman * 'I can't recommend this highly enough. Beautiful, moving, exquisitely layered and compelling. I absolutely loved it' * Christina Patterson (will need to ask her for permission to use) *