RaveThe GuardianThe Dutch author Eva Meijer has created a fictional life for Howard based on the little that is known. Passages from her books tell the parallel life story of Star, her favourite great tit. Howard’s words are fascinating and moving. The woman herself remains an enigma ... An entertaining and thought-provoking read, the novel is also deeply sad, for Len believes her work is vital to the birds’ wellbeing. What we see is that her need is far greater than theirs.
Walter Kempowski, Trans. by Anthea Bell
RaveThe Guardian\"The novel builds gradually, dreamily at times, with simple prose and lots of short sections, a quiet undercurrent of growing unease getting steadily stronger, always ignored, put aside till tomorrow ... Kempowski uses detail like a repeating phrase in music, and there is a musical quality also in the movement of the book as a whole, from its quiet beginning through the relentless build to its massively impressive climax. The repetition is skilfully fed into the narrative to create a gradual deepening of tone ... All for Nothing is a beautiful, forgiving and compassionate book that looks beyond the futile divisions people make between themselves. It reaches its last devastating line with poetic sensibility and the grace of a classical tragedy, confirming Kempowski as a truly great writer.\
Fay Weldon
PositiveThe GuardianFans will immediately fall in with that familiar voice speaking directly and chummily to the reader in Fay Weldon’s 34th novel ... Perhaps these characters aren’t meant to seem that real. Looking down on her cast from amused heights, Weldon punctures their pretensions and double standards with piquant observations, keeps a detached eye on the power politics of their relationships; but she also caricatures them, and I think she would be a better writer if she could put aside the obsession with how attractive or otherwise a woman is. This has been a major theme throughout her career, but it limits her range.
