RaveThe Guardian (UK)Russell cleverly lures us inside the labyrinth of the teenage mind—hot with hormonal turmoil, pushing boundaries, craving admiration, breaking rules and obsessing about sex ... The author skilfully reveals the contradictions of a teenager who can be simultaneously sexually mature and extremely vulnerable, highly intelligent and incapable of protecting herself ... The writing is dark, shocking, occasionally nauseating and will rightly be labelled \'brave.\' Actually, you have to be pretty brave to read it ... This fast-paced, intelligent novel encapsulates the current zeitgeist in which earlier sexual mores are being re-evaluated and clearer boundaries laid down ... My Dark Vanessa’s greatest achievement is its clear-sighted exploration of the ambiguities inherent in abusive relationships.
Lynne Olson
RaveThe GuardianLast Hope Island describes the many continental Europeans who, escaping Nazi occupation, found refuge in Britain during the second world war. Their stories are exciting, moving and horrifying, with foreign monarchs, spies, scientists and soldiers attempting to continue their battles from a vulnerable island that did not appear well placed to resist the probable German invasion ... it is a brick of a book with a daunting number of subjects, it skips along, focusing on the vibrant personalities and their extraordinary stories ... Among the most enticing characters in the book is the dashingly piratical Charles Howard, 20th Earl of Suffolk ... Though it is full of stirring stories, the lasting interest of Last Hope Island is its cool reckoning of history, away from the heat of bombs and battles. Olson is an outsider with a keen sense of justice.
