Tormented Hope

It's so good that, after reading it, I needed a lie-down.

Hilary Mantel, Guardian Books of the Year

A brilliant series of portraits

Observer

Fascinating ... Written with great elegance and shrewd understanding

William Boyd, Guardian Books of the Year

Illuminating, humane and beautiful

Independent

Ingenious and intriguing

Guardian

Brian Dillon is a superbly careful writer. ... [This book] will delight, move and horrify any of the millions of us who, like the late Spike Milligan, have at one time or another contemplated having "I told you I was ill" inscribed on our gravestones.

Sam Leith, Daily Mail

A mini-masterpiece

Louise Carpenter, Observer

Excellent

Sunday Times

Strangely delightful ... Dillon's book is constantly intelligent

Scotland on Sunday

You don't need to be a hypochondriac to enjoy this series of discursive, insightful essays that are full of quirky details and fascinating anecdotes

Mail on Sunday

Illuminating

Philip Hoare, Sunday Telegraph

Eloquent and incisive

Boyd Tonkin, Independent

Dillon's mind is as interesting as those of the people he writes about ... bizarrely unputdownable

Eileen Battersby, Irish Times