<p><font><b>A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE </b><b><i>GUARDIAN</i>: ''DEEPLY PLEASURABLE''</b><br><b>A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE </b><b><i>SPECTATOR</i>: ''WHAT A JOY''</b><br><b><br>''Magnificent'' <i>Guardian</i></b><br><b>''A towering achivement'' <i>Financial Times</i><br>''Inventive, bold, unexpected'' <i>Sunday Times</i></b><br><br>''Everything that makes the novel worthwhile and engaging is here: warmth, wit, intelligence, love, death, high seriousness, low comedy, philosophy, subtle personal relationships and the complex interior life of human beings''<br><b><i>Guardian</i></b><br><br>''Not since William Boyd''s <i>Any Human Heart</i> has a novel captured the feast and famine nature of a single life with such invention and tenderness''<br><b><i>Financial Times</i></b><br><br>''There is a pleasing sense of having grappled with the real stuff of life: loss, grief, love, desire, pain, uncertainty, confusion, joy, despair - all while having fun''<br><b><i>The Sunday Times</i></