Molly & the Captain

Critics Review

• [A] beguiling new novel about the mysteries of creativity from master storyteller Anthony Quinn… Every sentence he produces is a joy

  Metro

• A gripping mystery… Sweeping across centuries in its three interlinked sections, it summons the past effortlessly, as a vehicle for a plot that is both intricate and immaculately constructed… Quinn’s most ambitious book to date and decidedly his best

  Observer

• Quinn is an accomplished writer at ease with the idioms of the past… He is also a subtle creator of character… opens up timeless themes of family, success and love

  New Statesman

• Quinn is an intelligent analyst of the uncertainties of love and art

  Sunday Times

• These women’s lives are gently and perceptively explored

  The Times

• Gripping historical fiction

  Good Housekeeping

• [A] stylish literary triptych… Quinn is a fine writer with an instinctive understanding of the pitfalls of the bohemian life

  Mail on Sunday

• A deft, century-hopping novel… delight[s] in the granular details of an era, as well as a thorough knowledge of its broad sweep

  Guardian

• There is a delicious mystery at the heart of this novel

  Daily Mail

• One of my favourite writers… a breathtakingly ambitious novel that nails the small personal triumphs and tragedies of each woman’s life

  Red

• So versatile – Quinn seems to reinvent himself with every book

  Jonathan Coe

• A witty and affecting saga… It delights in exploring tiny, unexpected quirks of character and broad brushstrokes of greater emotion alike, and never fails to entertain

  Spectator

• Quinn displays an impressive range of expression: the mannered, epistolary style of the early chapters gives way to touches of Victorian gothic, and then to crisp contemporary prose

  Financial Times

• Truly magnificent… each part is separate and distinct, involving and compassionate, yet all are mysteriously connected… Period details sparkle in this elegant prose… This is Quinn’s masterpiece

  The Tablet

• Quinn’s books are unbeatable treats… His latest, a hall of mirrors across three centuries revolving around a single painting, is both about art and irresistibly artful

  Dominic Dromgoole

• Poignant, involving, beautiful and thoroughly entertaining… Quinn’s best and most ambitious novel yet dances through three centuries, entwines the worlds of theatre and art in a thoroughly seductive embrace, and brings all his considerable gifts into play… This is a novel packed with pleasures

  Perspective Magazine

• Pleasurable… The novel is a triptych, each part standing alone and quickly establishing its particular note and colour by means of language, carefully chosen detail and a sprinkling of familiar names

  Times Literary Supplement

• Quinn has an artist’s eye and can mine drama from even the plainest parlour or afternoon in the park

  Strong Words Magazine