All is Song

A fine study of the nature and strength of family ties and the morality, or otherwise, of conforming where it matters

Kate Saunders, The Times

A moving novel about family duty and friendship set against a London backdrop of national unrest

Grazia

Deftly controlled and exquisitely measured

Brian Donaldson, The List

Graceful and full of sharp observation and moments of understated pathos

Carol Birch, Guardian

Harvey's slow, intense thoughtfulness feels positively Woolfean at times. She thinks deeply, and writes beautifully about these thoughts.

Lucy Atkins, Sunday Times

Harvey's talent is in the details of both characters and relationships that seem trivial but are telling ... Harvey is a master of language, adept at both Wildean one-liners ... and more profound expression

Rosamund Urwin, Evening Standard

How would Socrates get on in 21st century Britain? This is the question at the heart of Samantha Harvey's ambitious second novel

James Walton, Daily Mail

In this Socrates-like story Samantha Harvey examines a dramatic sibling relationship whilst questioning the place of philosophy in modern life

Big Issue in the North

Intense, rewarding and bracingly serious

Adrian Turpin, Financial Times

Lovely observations on a sibling relationship

Lesley McDowell, Glasgow Sunday Herald

Profoundly beautiful, cathartic writing.

Catherine Taylor, Daily Telegraph

The beauty of the intense plot lies in its economy. The novel is so finely tuned, it is hard to find any passage where she is not fully in control. No matter how dramatic the events she describes, they never drown the ideas being discussed.

Anna Aslanyan, Literary Review

There's still something compelling in the way Harvey resists the easy and the obvious. The result is a novel of both depth and defiance

Natasha Tripney, Observer

This beautifully written composition does that rare thing, of provoking free thought, while scrutinising the far-reaching repercussions of such rebellious activity

Freya McClelland, Independent

This is a novel of ideas that also creates believable characters and explores complex relationships. Harvey's prose is graceful and unhurried, full of sharp observation and moments of subtly understated pathos

Carol Birch, Guardian