'McGregor is the nearest thing you will ever come across to a literary Beethoven. Words go beyond being tools of his trade and become an orchestrated, inspired and precisely designed tone poem for each creative idea ... One of the most perfect pieces of written English I have ever come across' Sunday Express

'Jon McGregor writes with frightening intelligence and impeccable technique. Every page is a revelation' Teju Cole

'Sharp, dark and hugely entertaining, this collection establishes McGregor as one of the most exciting voices in short fiction' Observer

'Set in and around the fens, these wickedly brilliant stories are as black as the local soil ... Throughout, omissions and ellipses set the mind racing like a treacherous tide, rushing in to fill the gaps. Not a book for bedtime, then. But very, very good indeed' Daily Mail

'To the anxious literary festival audience member - and anyone else feeling downcast about the state of the short story today - I say, read Jon McGregor's new book. Its verve, its inventiveness, its sheer quiet audacity will reassure you that the short story is alive, well and reaching new heights' Maggie O'Farrell, Guardian

'Haunting and brilliant' Independent

'A writer alive to the lithe life of language ... A huge talent' Sunday Times

'A striking collection ... the prose is picked clean, pellucid' Sunday Telegraph

'McGregor's prose is as sparse as the countryside it has alighted on, with barely a simile or metaphor in sight' Literary Review

'There is a lot to chew over and a lot that stays in the mind' Psychologies