'Clever, humane, elegant and wise. Like the Dutch masters, who saw beauty in a woman sewing, or cracking eggs, and whose calm elegance her prose recalls, she sees the fragility and strangeness that are present in even the most commonplace of lives, if only one knows how to look.' (The Times )

'Families are funny things – in real life, as in the novels of Libby Purves. . . Still, all's well that ends well – as things usually do in the novels of the perceptive Ms Purves.' (Evening Mail )

'Purves tackles a number of topical issues head-on, while astutely depicting family life' (Woman & Home )

'Most gripping . . . erupts with extraordinary and unexpected force.' (David Shukman, Daily Mail )

'A satisfying cocktail of sexual politics and common sense.' (East Anglian Daily Times )

'Calm eye, coherent thought and deft plotting . . . A thoughtful and compelling read with a wise message for modern parents.' (Wigan Evening Post )