A luscious, multi-sensory bewitchment of a book – Stevens’ writing rings with wit and surprise

I found myself floored by the astonishing freshness of this historical novel . . . A shining work of art, but so deftfully, gracefully done, that it was a struggle to stop myself from turning the pages. Nell Stevens is an original, whose touch is as deft as it is masterful

Stevens is brilliant at describing desire

Deeply enjoyable, guileful

Dreamy and sensual and life-affirming too

Truly original . . . brilliant

Nell Stevens’s hugely accomplished debut novel evokes a sense both of place and time with a confidence that augurs well for her future career . . . The book is attuned to both contemporary and timeless concerns and grips throughout

Exquisite . . . Blanca is the story’s heart. She’s a charming, witty character whose vulnerability and occasional gloom make her an irresistible narrator . . . I confess: I cried

A teenage ghost falls in love with a writer who doesn’t know she exists in this playful, otherworldly debut novel

A voluptuous delight . . . Like the best historical fiction it is playfully disingenuous . . . the whole book is radiant with life

Electrifyingly beautiful, exhilaratingly clever . . . categorically the most gorgeous first novel I’ve read in years. It’s rare that I come across historical fiction so sensual, so original, so intelligent, and so brimming with love

A gorgeous, wildly seductive novel, shimmering with intelligence, humour and joy. I adored this book.

A haunting, dazzling tale of all the good stuff: love, sex, music, literature, death, and what happens after. Nell Stevens is a beautiful writer.

A heady yet poignant story about a queer ghost who falls in love

This deeply wild debut follows the unconventional love triangle that unfolds between real-life French novelist George Sand, her lover Frédéric Chopin, and the teenage ghost who died over 400 years earlier and pines after George from afar.

An interesting and absorbing read . . . Highly recommended

Tantalising . . . Stevens is convincing in her portrayal of the haunting nature of desire past and present

There are biographies, and there are novels fictionalising real characters, imagining what might happen ‘if’. This one is truly original, as it is a brilliant mix of both . . . Blanca may be a ghost, but her feelings are very real, as are the sights, sounds, smells, and dramas which envelop Sand, Chopin and their family, as they struggle for acceptance, creative freedom and, at times, survival

A novel of tremulous beauty, sly wit and deep understanding, Briefly, A Delicious Life is an addictive, sunlit delight

A luminous, beguiling exploration of creativity and love

This delightfully weird story of loss, longing and love just begs to fill a rainy afternoon.

Stevens’ prose is by turns languid and visceral . . . An entrancing and singular exploration of a fascinating historical footnote and a queer life after death.

We know we are curious about the dead but imagine a life lived so vibrantly as to make the dead curious about us. Nell Stevens brings a reader into the strange and brilliant artistic exile of George Sand, writing this tender story with tremendous heart and daring. Here, reader, are the low-lying truths of love, art and time

Stevens’ writing is beautiful and evocative of the Majorcan landscape as she slowly develops the arc of Sand and Chopin’s affair and elucidates Blanca’s life spent in tantalizing anticipation . . . this is a winner with appeal beyond historical fiction readers

A haunting (in all senses of the word) and evocative magical realist account of creativity and gender, sexuality and inspiration, a ghost story both gothic and beautiful