RaveThe Guardian (UK)The narrative twists and sprouts in unexpected ways, and it can feel as if multiple plots are mushrooming on the page. Suffice to say, Waidner has absolute command.
Deborah Levy
RaveTimes Literary Supplement (UK)[Levy\'s] most emphatically uncanny yet ... This is not a long book, but Levy is such a clever writer, her plot so immaculately packed, that August Blue reads like a weighty one. Everything has a double meaning ... This latest novel is about death and loss, and what happens when those closest to us die. We see them everywhere, in shadows, in strangers, in visions in the dark. When they have gone we cannot help but wonder who they really were. Without them we question, too, who we really are.
Wendy Erskine
RaveThe GuardianThey hook you in hard, the people whose lives fill Wendy Erskine’s debut collection, but you wouldn’t want to trade places with any of them ... each of these acutely observed portraits \'penetrates to the heart of what it means to be lonely, or in love or to feel a failure\'. An exceptional ear for dialogue, an impeccable semantic rhythm and an uncanny ability to tease laughter out of the darkest moments mean Erskine is perfectly poised to stare, unflinching, into our neoliberal abyss. The result is a gripping, wonderfully understated book that oozes humanity, emotion and humour.
