Before You Knew My Name

Critics Review

• An exquisitely written, absolutely devastating novel, which gives a voice to all the women who never made it home.

  Red

• The most wonderful book. Unusual, beautiful, feminist, gripping, deserves to win prizes. I loved it so much.

  Marian Keyes

• A brave and timely novel which will fuel the debate on women’s rights to walk safely through our streets. I raced through the pages, anxious for resolution, yet at the same time not wanting this beautiful writing to finish.

  Clare Mackintosh, author of I Let You Go

• A really remarkable book – so fresh and original. I’ve never read anything quite like this.

  Laura Barnett, author of The Versions of Us

• All the suspense and tension we expect from crime fiction – but with complex characters and themes that linger for longer.

  Guardian

• I fell head over heels in love with this heartbreaking, beautiful and hugely important novel. Jacqueline Bublitz’s prose is luminous and the up-all-night, just-one-more-page plot is brilliantly clever and original. Everyone should read this book.

  Rosie Walsh, author of The Man Who Didn't Call

• Stood out among the many thrillers because it focuses on the victim and her life rather than her killer, with echoes of The Lovely Bones

  Good Housekeeping

• I was mesmerised by this exquisitely written, heartbreaking, lyrical story of friendship from beyond the grave.

  Jane Corry, author of My Husband's Wife

• An extraordinary and hypnotic read that has stayed with me months after reading.

  Nina Potell, Prima

• Fiercely topical and full of compassion, Before You Knew My Name starts where many thrillers and news stories do: the murder of a young woman. But instead of a hunt for the killer, this novel explores the personhood of the victim-who she was, what she loved, all the years that were stolen from her. It’s a story about female agency and value in the face of male violence, and also about resilience, about memory, about how love adapts and survives.

  Julie Cohen, author of Together

• A brilliantly powerful read, Before You Knew My Name is an astonishing debut.

  Lucy Mangan, journalist

• Devastating but beautiful… gives a voice to all the women who never made it home. The writing is exquisite and rarely has a story seemed so prescient of the here and now.

  Sarra Manning, journalist

• Exquisitely composed, with a muscular feminist sensibility, Before You Knew My Name is both elegiac and rhapsodic in its examination of the deaths – and lives – of women.

  Jessica Moor, author of Keeper

• An unputdownable debut – striking, moving, gripping throughout and so sharp on the things that unite us.

  Elizabeth Kay, author of Seven Lies

• I absolutely relished this clever, original and moving novel. Jacqueline Bublitz is a fantastically adept writer, creating a wonderful cast of characters and a hugely engaging portrait of city life.

  Nell Frizzell, author of The Panic Years

• Jacqueline Bublitz snatches back the power, giving voice to those whose stories deserve to be told. It is powerful, beautiful. I loved it.

  Kate Sawyer, author of The Stranding

• Feminist, fierce, beautiful and urgent with a story that NEEDS to be told. I read parts with my heart breaking and parts that could have been ripped from my own soul. It made me feel seen.

  Bethany Clift, author of Last One At The Party

• An astounding debut novel that every woman will feel in their bones. At last, a whodunnit, where the victim is the front and centre of the story. Beautifully written, real, feminist and properly haunting, it deserves all the awards.

  Lizzy Dent, author of The Summer Job

• Full of raw poignancy, explored through the author’s expressive mastery of language.

  Woman's Weekly

• Heart-breaking yet rewarding . . . fans of The Lovely Bones will enjoy this story.

  Woman