Shrewd and timely - the best novel I've read in ages. Ferociously well written, and hugely entertaining -- SARAH WATERS Erudite, beautifully written, funny, tragic * Daily Mail * Darkly witty and exhilarating * The Times * With its echoes of Simone de Beauvoir and Samuel Beckett, this quiet meditation an old age seethes with apocalyptic intent ... Brilliant * Guardian * Masterly, poignant and uplifting * Mail on Sunday * Drabble has pulled off a quietly revolutionary portrait of an age-group whose lives are just as urgent as anyone's but are rarely considered ***** * Sunday Telegraph * Ageing and dying in style ... Margaret Drabble's sharply drawn characters look back on lives lived and forwards to achieving a good death * Observer * Uplifting ... Profound ... Unforgettable ... At its heart is the enormous question, how do we know if we've had a good life? * Sunday Telegraph * Now 77 and on her 19th novel, Drabble is skillful at creating brilliantly drawn, three-dimensional characters in this thought-provoking and witty read * Sunday Post * Written with tremendous energy ... Drabble has always been an observant chronicler of human life. Meditations on what makes a good death ... are enthusiastically explored in a text that roves fluidly between past and present. Inquisitive and erudite * Literary Review * A vein of black humour pulses ... as entertaining as a conversation with a dear friend * Daily Mail * Heartbreaking and hilarious * Sunday Independent * Witty and intelligent ... brimming with relevance * Independent * A heartfelt rumination on the process of ageing and inevitability of death * The List * A significant achievement, admirable and truthful * New Statesman * A thought-provoking, witty and surprisingly acerbic read * The Herald * Sharp observation and pessimistic pondering ...There is a gloomy, undeniable truthfulness to this novel * Daily Express * Drabble's brilliance ... builds up a sense of wide horizons that one has never seen in quite the same way before * The Times * Her distinctive narrative voice and soaring prose remain electrifying * Spectator *
