Angel

'Jane Austen, Elizabeth Taylor, Barbara Pym, Elizabeth Bowen - soul-sisters all' Anne Tyler 'One of the most underrated novelists of the twentieth century' Antonia Fraser 'I envy those readers who are coming to her work for the first time. Theirs will be an unexpected pleasure' Paul Bailey 'Her stories remain with one, indelibly, as though they had been some turning point in one's own experience' Elizabeth Bowen 'Quietly and devatatingly amusing' Hilary Mantel 'An excellent novel' Jonathan Keates, Spectator 'A masterpiece' 'Precious and endearing' 'Angel is a brilliant creation with not a seed of irony, self knowledge or humour in her soul . . . I'm not one who re-reads books but I return to this on frequently and every time it makes me envious - and it makes me laugh and cry. You can't ask for much more from a novel than that' Lesley Glaister, Guardian 'A brilliant exposition of the effects of self-delusion, this novel is as sad on one page as it is funny on the next' Publishers Weekly 'Taylor has an eye as sharply all-seeing as her prose-style is elegant - even the humdrum becomes astonishing' Daily Telegraph