the local soil ... Throughout, omissions and ellipses set the mind racing like a treacherous tide, rushing in to fill the gaps. Not a book for bedtime, then. But very, very good indeed' Daily Mail
'To the anxious literary festival audience member - and anyone else feeling downcast about the state of the short story today - I say, read Jon McGregor's new book. Its verve, its inventiveness, its sheer quiet audacity will reassure you that the short story is alive, well and reaching new heights' Maggie O'Farrell, Guardian
'Haunting and brilliant' Independent
'A writer alive to the lithe life of language ... A huge talent' Sunday Times
'A striking collection ... the prose is picked clean, pellucid' Sunday Telegraph
'McGregor's prose is as sparse as the countryside it has alighted on, with barely a simile or metaphor in sight' Literary Review
'There is a lot to chew over and a lot that stays in the mind' Psychologies
