Bitter Orange

A twisty, thorny, darkly atmospheric page turner about loneliness and belonging

Gabriel Tallent, author of My Absolute Darling

Reminds me of JL Carr's A Month in the Country, Daphne Du Maurier's Jamaica Inn, and Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Incredibly atmospheric, vivid, and intriguing. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't reading a forgotten classic.

Emma Healey

A rich, dark pressure cooker of a novel that simmers with slow heat and suppressed tension

Ruth Ware

As haunting as tuberose and delicate as a scalpel

Laline Paull

A sinister story that considers the terrifying lengths people will go to escape their pasts. In the vein of Shirley Jackson's bone-chilling The Haunting of Hill House, Fuller's disturbing novel will entrap readers in its twisty narrative, leaving them to reckon with what is real and what is unreal. An intoxicating, unsettling masterpiece.

Kirkus

It is rare for me to put down a novel and then immediately consider rereading it to see what cleverness I might have missed. This time, though, I am tempted.

Lucy Atkins, Sunday Times

Bitter Orange reads like an assured, old-school, du Maurieresque classic. It's an atmospheric page-turner that speeds us towards a bloody climax of shocks and surprises

Irish Times

This darkly smouldering, desperately sad, superior psychological thriller contains shades of Zoe Heller's Notes On A Scandal

Daily Mail

Rich and compelling. Fuller is an accomplished writer

Observer

Full of complex characters and narrative richness

The Sunday Times Culture

An exquisite and skilfully written novel, which worms its way under your skin while Frances's loneliness seeps off every page

Red

A rich and hypnotic read

Tatler

Fuller is a master at summoning the atmosphere of a heady, hot summer that thrums with tension

Stylist

Loneliness, guilt and atonement are at the heart of the atmospheric Bitter Orange

Good Housekeeping

Multi-layered, lush, twisty and brilliantly clever

The Sunday Mirror

Atmospheric. Rich, clever and very readable.

Amanda Craig, Telegraph

Heady, claustrophobic . . . makes for perfect heatwave reading. Echoes Penelope Lively's Booker-winning Moon Tiger, Anita Brookner's Look At Me, and Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger

Independent

Naturally engaging and elegantly written. Fuller is an amply gifted storyteller

Spectator

With shades of Brideshead and Manderley, Claire Fuller's atmospheric third novel plays a satisfyingly unpredictable game with reader expectations. Prepare to be meticulously unsettled and horribly enthralled

Country Life

A compulsive page-turner. Fuller creates an atmosphere of simmering menace with all the assurance of a latter-day Daphne du Maurier

The Times

Full of dark foreboding. Claire Fuller is a dazzling storyteller

Belfast Telegraph

Dark, beautifully written. It reminds me very much of Ian McEwan's Atonement, with similar slow-build tension and claustrophobic atmosphere

The Pool

A stealthy shocker about thwarted desire. A sinister, slow-burn tale that saves its most heart-wrenching revelation for last

Metro

Cannily releasing clues on the way to an explosive finale . . . The lush setting and remarkable characters make for an immersive mystery

Publishers Weekly

A smart creation from a skilled writer: a heady psychological novel that builds its layers carefully to allow gradual revelations and stomach-churning surprises

Financial Times

Sinister and suspenseful, this gothic novel simmers with guilt, lust and envy

Mail on Sunday

A delicate and disturbing read, alive with love, lust, envy and guilt

S Magazine

Bewitching, otherworldly . . . full of dark foreboding. Claire Fuller is a dazzling storyteller.

Scotsman

Elegant, atmospheric, vivid

The Big Issue

Beautifully written, with echoes of Barbara Vine and Daphne du Maurier

Andrew Taylor, Spectator Books of the Year 2018

Sumptuous and sinister with gothic hints, this is a compelling tale of blurred friendships

Prima

Nothing is quite what it seems in this engrossing, moreish novel about a naïve woman and the hedonistic couple who beguile her

Sunday Times Culture