You could read this a dozen times and not come to the end of its originality, its moral intelligence, its gargantuan flair Katherine Rundell, author of Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne
Superbly readablean assured and strange masterpiece Sunday Telegraph
'One of the best English novels of the 20th century' Diana Athill, The Oldie
Hilary Mantel has soaked herself in the history of the periodand a striking picture emerges of the exhilaration, dynamic energy and stark horror of those fearful days Daily Telegraph
I cannot think of a historical novel as good as this until one goes back to Marguerite Yourcenars Memoirs of Hadrian, published forty years ago. Evening Standard
MarvellousIt was the best of times; it was the worst of times. Hilary Mantel captures it all Time Out
IntriguingShe has grasped what made these young revolutionaries and with them the French Revolution tick Independent
Crafty tensions, twists and high dramaa bravura display of her endlessly inventive, eerily observant style Times Literary Supplement
An extraordinary and overwhelming novelimmensely detailed and yet fast-movingshe has set herself to capture the excitement and intellectual fervour of the period. She does it admirablya tour de force Scotsman
'Rivetingthe book overflows with a natural storyteller's energy' New Yorker
Much, much more than a historical novel, this is an addictive study of power, and the price that must be paid for ita triumph Cosmopolitan
'This is a high-class historical blockbuster' Red Magazine
Hilary Mantel has pulled off the apparently impossiblean ambitious, gripping epic Vogue
