I Put a Spell on You

A marvellously meandering, digressive study of the nature of love… Burnside has a lovely garrulousness that is distinctively his own… Exact and enthralling.

Tessa Hadley, Guardian

[An] indirect, peculiar, consuming memoir… Full of wonders.

Kate Kellaway, Observer

A wise and wryly glum autobiography written in a highly rewarding, pared-back style.

Martin Hemming, Sunday Times

Captivating and unsettling… A work of scalding honesty.

Sophie Elmhirst, Financial Times

Intoxicating… Remarkable… A long-player that resonates long after the stylus has lifted.

Brian Morton, Glasgow Sunday Herald

Extraordinary, haunting… One reads this book and gets a very real sense of a writer who has thought through an individualistic and compelling way of looking at the world, one that does indeed cast a mightily powerful spell all of its own.

David Robinson, Scotland on Sunday

Astonishing… Not just brilliant, but essential reading.

Grace McCleen, Independent

Beautifully expressed and rich in ideas… Powerfully resonant.

Michael Prodger, Mail on Sunday

Throughout this wonderful book Burnside shows himself incapable of a dull sentence or a shop-soiled thought.

Cressida Connolly, Spectator

A scintillating and insightful ragbag.

Jake Kerridge, Telegraph

Enthralling and enchanting, much like the song it is named after.

Danielle Haywood, Another Magazine

A "coming of age" memoir unlike any other you will ever read.

Candia McWilliam, Scotsman