Chloe Aridjis has achieved something quite astonishing: a rethinking of one of our most complacent forms, the historical novel.... The writer she calls to mind is the Modernist Haruki Murakami, with his unsolved riddles and ultra-cool characters. It is a book that you press on friends -- Helen Rumbelow * The Times * [ An] exceptional debut novel.... a beautifully turned piece of writing of extraordinary assurance... As natural as breathing. Both vivid and dreamlike, at once very precise in its images and also enchantingly broad-brush atmospheric, this is a debut more captivating than any I've read in some time -- Daniel Hahn * Independent on Sunday * The debut novel by the New York-born, now London-based, Aridjis comes highly recommended by literary heavyweights Paul Auster and Ali Smith, a choice emphasising both Aridjis's transatlantic appeal and her literary sensibilities -- Lesley Mcdowell * Scotsman * A hypnotic first novel about a young Mexican gal in Berlin who stumbles into friendship with an eccentric historian and the madness that ensues. This book has the power of dreams and still hasn't left me -- Junot Diaz A stirring and lyrical first novel by a young writer of immense talent -- Paul Auster A fresh and original voice...the book is a portrait of Berlin, a city famed for its richness and strangeness, hauntingly captured by Aridjis -- Francesca Segal * The Observer * A most unusual debut... An entirely refreshing portrait of young womanhood, it is unselfconscious, uncompromising, wholly authentic -- Justine Jordan * The Guardian * Exquisite -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent * This is a haunting debut with an individual, poetic slant -- Alastair Mabbot * Herald * It is Paul Auster, only better... This is a whimsical, confident book sustained by offbeat charm and intelligence -- Eileen Battersby * Irish Times *
