“Barr shifts between two very different tones with a light touch, maintaining a subtle emotional intelligence throughout.” — Guardian

“Barr’s writing is strong.” — Toronto Star

“Barr does an admirable job of describing a society struggling to reinvent itself.” — Winnipeg Free Press

“Barr’s facility with language is on display here, and many readers will happily lose themselves in his supple prose.” — LAMBDA Literary Review

“Vivid and informative … This book will sit with you for a long time.” — Sunday Times

“Barr traces a history of violence with compassion and a sweeping poetic intensity.” — Sunday Morning Herald

“[Damian Barr] has written a majestic novel that bears witness to the horrors of any war and the ongoing traumas of a peace without reckoning and remembrance.” — Business Day

“A story so powerful and upsetting that it’s a useful reminder of how fiction can illuminate the indignities visited upon those the world has mistreated and then forgotten.” — Irish Times

“A powerfully moving tale that weaves dazzlingly between the Boer war and contemporary South Africa.” — Observer