A wild adventure through 18th-century England and Russia, medicine, madness, landscape and weather, rendered in prose of consummate beauty

A really remarkable first novel, original, powerfully written . . . Miller’s narrative is gripping and his imagination extraordinary

Astoundingly good . . . it shines like a beacon

Timeless and thought-provoking . . . it is something very rare in modern fiction, a true work of art

Gripping . . . a dazzling debut

Dazzling . . . Miller tackles notions of mortality and humanity to brilliant effect . . . truly wonderful

An extraordinary first novel . . . one is constantly delighted with strange and vivid imagery, fresh and startling metaphors, flashes of insight, deft twists of plot and resonant variations on dominant themes . . . a mature novel of ideas soaked in the sensory detail of its turbulent times

Exceptionally intelligent and elegant . . . remarkable for its feeling and its humane sensibility

A true rarity: a debut novel which is original, memorable, engrossing and subtle

Strange, unsettling, sad, beautiful and profound . . . the sense of period is brilliantly handled

More than merits comparison with the likes of Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus and Patrick Süskind’s Perfume . . . a blistering debut

The novel’s evocation of the period, down to the finest detail, is thoroughly confident . . . a startling novel

A finely wrought and provocative novel

Impressive