"One of the great imaginative creations in English literature" Daily Telegraph "An unadulterated delight" Independent "Rich and satisfying" -- Lindsay Duguid Sunday Times "A tour de force of literary technique, a treasure house of diligent research and imaginative ingenuity" -- Jane Shilling Telegraph "Wonderfully entertaining" -- Michael Holroyd Guardian, Books of the Year "Her feeling for the spirit of the times is triumphant" -- Charlotte Moore Spectator "A rich, glowing portrait" -- Daisy Hay Observer "Her characters laugh, cry, plot and flounder so convincingly that they take up residence in your head and refuse to go away" -- Mary Crockett Scotland on Sunday "This book is richly marbled with intelligence, compassion and compelling characters, leavened with flourishes of lyricism and an attractive tolerance towards human frailties" -- Angus Clarke The Times "What ultimately makes the book such a joy is simply being in Merivel's company. His narration is by turns rueful, comic, despairing and joyful; but it's always bursting with life, always good-hearted - and always entirely loveable" -- James Walton Daily Mail "A delight" -- Lucy Beresford Literary Review "At times witty and enchanting, on other occasions full of doubt and self-loathing, Merivel remains a stunning achievement. He is Everyman and speaks to us all" -- Virginia Blackburn Sunday Express "Exuberance is a very hard thing to sustain in a novel. However, Tremain brings it off brilliantly. As one might expect, this is a very funny novel, full of picaresque adventure, hapless accidents and ingeniously wrought slapstick. However, it is also a very moving and beautiful novel. There are passages here which I found myself reading over and over again simply in order to savour them. Merivel: A Man of His Time may have been a long time coming, but it's been well worth the wait" -- John Preston Mail on Sunday "Merivel is excellent company. Writing with a mimic's ear for conversation, whimsical one moment, grave the next, Tremain has an underlying preoccupation here: the last third of live, love and loss, loneliness and vanity" -- Maggie Fergusson Intelligent Life "Tremain writes beautifully about Reniassance England but it's the glittering paradoxes of Merivel's character that here leap fully formed from the page" -- Claire Allfree Metro "Tremain's novel experiments continually with light and shade - she expertly paints a picture with three dimensions and real feeling" -- Lesley McDowall Scotsman
