'Magnificent...It's one of the greatest ghost stories in the language, but it's far more than just a ghost story - it's a novel of desperate truthfulness - a majestic work, truly.' Philip Pullman


'Sparkling, sinister and supremely original.' Sunday Telegraph


'As black as a tar barrel and very, very funny.' The Times


'Laceratingly observant, a masterpiece of wit, heavy with atmosphere. It is also gloriously insolent and slyly funny: full of robust, uncluttered prose and searing moments.' Independent


'Pins elusive Middle England to the page in all its creepiness: a place blank and disconnected, yet fatally self-absorbed.' Rachel Cooke, Observer


'An elegant, atmospheric tale and a nuanced portrait, full of ironies.' Tatler


'Chilling, creepy and endlessly inventive.' Kate Saunders, The Times


'Hilary Mantel has done something extraordinary. She has taken the ethereal halfway house between heaven and hell, between the living and the dead, and nailed it on the page.' Fay Weldon, Guardian


'Has the kind of gallows humour that makes you laugh out loud...A real page-turner, a darkly humorous take on the enduring effects of childhood trauma.' Mslexia


'A deep, disturbing, violently amusing and subversive work.' Daily Telegraph