Various Pets Alive And Dead

An astute and hilarious take on modern values

Stylist

Thank heavens for Marina Lewycka whose Various Pets Alive and Dead me laugh at least once in every chapter . . . The warmth of its tone, its zest, its blend of quirky, humane comedy and intellectual seriousness make this a novel to treasure

New Statesman

Not many authors could successfully mix lentils, bra-burning and free love with city traders, quantitative analysts and the mathematical calculations that supposedly make naked short selling, CDOs and subprime mortgages infallible. But Marina Lewycka is an exception . . . Never has reading about something serious been quite so much fun.

Economist

Lewycka treats her characters with real affection and combines the big themes and acutely-observed details with characteristic lightness of touch

Daily Mail

Lewycka displays a similar mix of astringent humour and worldly humanism in her forth novel as she did in her acclaimed debut . . . a funny, farcical novel

Metro

[Lewycka is] a warm and humane writer . . . most affecting

Sunday Telegraph

An affectionate picture of a free-thinking, beatnik lifestyle now regarded as batty, but which was underpinned by a real desire to change the world. We could all do with a bit more of that

The Herald

Lewycka is a warm and humane writer

Guardian

Wonderfully funny . . . a dizzy, eye-watering treat . . . Lewycka is somewhere between Hilary Mantel in her satirical mode and Sue Townsend

Independent

Marina Lewycka's latest novel is wonderfully funny with moments of pure farce in the best tradition of social satire . . . this inventive and witty book fizzes along from beginning to end

Daily Express

Lewycka is not only witty but astute . . . it is a charming, beautifully observed novel, and those who label Lewycka a merely whimsical or quirky comic writer woefully underestimate her abilities

Independent on Sunday