Sex is Forbidden

A wry and subtle story about what happens when the western self tries to lose itself.

Kathryn Hughes, Prospect

The Dasgupta Institute...is sharply observed, a surprisingly dystopian environment of gender segregation and enforced privation

Thomas Marks, Telegraph

Tim Parks' new novel addresses in fiction a milieu and a theme that he explored, with great success, in his memoir Teach Us How to Sit Still

Leo Robson, Guardian

Parks writes with detachment, wit and intelligence, and the troubled voice in Beth is entirely convincing

Kate Saunders, The Times

Quirky, witty and deep

Todd McEwen, Sunday Herald

It's a cracker - clever, funny and insightful, with complicated, conflicted and totally convincing Beth at heart

Harry Ritchie, Daily Mail

An eminently readable and thought-provoking novel that teases you to the last page, and possibly beyond

Marcus Berkmann, Spectator

Entertainingly dramatizes the conflict between seeking tranquility and expressing one true’s self

Alastair Mabbott, Herald