'suffused with a strong flavour of personal experience' -- You 20040715 'Exciting, engaging and so very convincing' -- Irish Times 20040715 '[Jhabvala] has taken the immigrant experience and personalised it in a wonderfully unique way' -- Independent on Sunday 20040715 'A very personal book, Jhalbvala attempts nine different answers to the question: What would happen if I were granted a different life? -- Brighton Argus 20050225 'The shards of memory and experience from which the stories are formed are as rich and bright as the jewelled fragments that make a kaleidoscope's image.' -- Sunday Telegraph 20050225 'elegantly crafted tales...they illustrate, magnificently, the dubious comforts of English innocence' -- Bryan Cheyette, Times Literary Supplement 20040716 'sinewy with compressed emotion and intellectual energy, as well as the poignancy of a thwarted search for love... a finely crafted example of an accomplished story-teller's art' -- Publishing Weekly 20040503 'It is this quality of elegant, unfussy writing that makes the book so enjoyable to read.' -- Student Direct 20050418 'Jhabvala's writing has a feather-like lightness that the stories are easy to read but are secretly powerful tales.' -- Scan 20050503 'I couldn't put it down when I got started. It's well worth the read and is incredibly well-written.' -- Scan 20050503 'They resonate with felt experience...She creates a scenario so powerfully that you are there with her in the spicy heat of India' -- Daily Telegraph 20040724 'Each work has her hallmark of balance, subtlety, wry humor and beauty' -- New York Times Book Review 20040724 'Conveys a whole lifetime of passion, endeavour, disappointment and achievement. These stories, written in a simple prose beautifully combining relaxation and alertness, show an admired writer ... in total possession of her creative powers.' -- Literary Review 20040724 'Savour this fine collection of stories!There is a consistency of tone: reminiscent, ruefully humorous, accepting! very funny in their quiet, dry, unobtrusive way. The prose throughout is clean and uncluttered: the sort of writing that marks out a genuine mistress of her craft' -- Sunday Times 20040724 'Ruth Prawer Jhabvala is a wonderful natural storyteller!The easy tone is utterly compelling. It is a delight, from first page to last' -- Scotsman 20040724 'Imagining what life might have been ...this is fiction that comes as close to autobiography as the author dares.' - Emma Hagestadt. -- The Independent 20050304 'By the end, while she may not fully have revealed herself, she has shown the grand sweep of life.' - Elena Seymenliyska. -- The Daily Telegraph 20050312 'A tellingly atmospheric consideration of nationality, identity and myth making.' -- The Irish Times 20050312 'The most prominent theme is a string of inadvisable affairs with irascible, unreliable older men ...perhaps it'll be 10th time lucky?' -- The Guardian 20050312 'One is dazzled by veiled fragments of a life that might have been.' -- Guardian 20050319 'Combined, these tales form an oblique portrait of the inner life of the author.' -- Sunday Times 20050327
