Alfred and Emily

'Writers approaching 90 aren't supposed to write with vigour or experiment with form. But Lessing has never done the expected thing and "Alfred and Emily" is one more exception in an exceptional career.' Blake Morrison, Guardian

'This tale has a quality at once dreamy and wooden, like beautifully carved wooden dolls. Vividly and urgently written, [it] makes us think about the moral and emotional power of different ways of telling a story.' Financial Times

'Vivid, turbulent, raw with emotion.' Sunday Telegraph

'Quietly extraordinary. . . this perfectly crafted book is, as Lessing knows, the latest instalment of a remarkable payback.' Observer

'Powerful. . . it is fascinating to see [Lessing] focus so sharply in her new book on what must be for us all, the most intimate of personal narratives: our parents' lives, what they were, or might have been.' The Times

'Lessing excels in the portrait of unsatisfactory lives, and together the parts form a poignant experiment.' Daily Telegraph

'It has the freshness, clarity and emotional acuity that made her first novel "The Grass is Singing" so outstanding. A tribute to a remarkable childhood, and a poignant memoir of the mother whose greatest legacy to her daughter was an invaluable gift for storytelling.' Literary Review