Ulverton

Beneath the variety of Ulverton's episodes is the current that links them, and that makes this one of the great British fictional works of our time. Each voice gives us a richly accomplished story; as one voice follows another, we are given the waxing and waning of history, of the land, and of the ways in which society regards itself and the world it disposes of

LA Times

If you believe English fiction is jaded, you must read Adam Thorpe... Tender, precise, tragicomic and unsentimental.

Hilary Mantel, Independent on Sunday

These stories sing like psalms, robust and vibrant - a poet's novel and a celebration that no social historian would dare attempt

Observer

We arent used to the many deep matters Thorpe touches on, not to such a thorough grasp of the complex nature of our rural past, and through it, of all existence itself... Suddenly English lives again

John Fowles, Guardian

A superb and moving meditation on history, fate and the nature of time, Ulverton is at once a traditional fiction and a wholly successful testing of the limits of literary art

John Banville

Spanning three centuries and encompassing a startling variety of lives, this debut novel from poet Adam Thorpe is nothing less than a bravura performance... With Ulverton, Thorpe has woven his own enticing 'secret web'. This is no mere promising first novel, but a major work, heralding a brillant new voice in British fiction

Washington Post

Genius

Irish Times

A masterpiece

Sunday Times

A masterpiece...he has done a thing I would literally have given my right arm to do

Monty Don, Open Book

Magnificent and long unsung debut novel

Eileen Battersby, Irish Times