Review
Samson is an intensely sensual writer, conjuring up blue skies, the tang of wild herbs, the vivid splash of bougainvillea ... As good as a Greek holiday, and may be the closest we get this year ― Financial Times
As dreamily nostalgic as Cohen's song Famous Blue Raincoat -- Alex Preston ― Observer, New Year Highlights
Sleazy, evocative, beautiful and entertaining -- Stuart Turton ― Guardian Summer Reading Picks
A thoroughly enjoyable drama of hedonism, enchantment and emotional beastliness ― Times Literary Supplement
A coming of age story set among a group of artists and poets, including Leonard Cohen, on the Greek island of Hydra in 1960. She is so good at mentally indelible imagery -- Jojo Moyes ― Guardian
This well-crafted novel beautifully captures the texture of a halcyon age in which anything seems possible ― Mail on Sunday
Spellbinding . An immersive read, steeped in nostalgia. Samson's poetic prose is so evocative that, by the end, you find yourself googling those entrancing images of Hydra, 1960, just to wallow further in the poignancy of it all ― Vanity Fair
The novel has a lightly worn heft to it, as it probes freedom and creativity . By the end of this enjoyable novel, which makes vivid an interesting moment and place, you discover people have paid a price - a heavy one - for that freedom in the sun ― The Times
Samson recreates one heady summer there with impeccably ripening prose .This is a slow, deliberately languorous novel that mixes real-life figures with fictional counterparts. It is sunbaked, stewed in alcohol, and wonderfully gossipy ― i paper
Intoxicating ... Highly accomplished ... A testament to Samson's transportive prose ― Spectator
A surefire summer hit ... Feels at once like a gift and an escape route ... At once a blissful piece of escapism and a powerful meditation on art and sexuality - just the book to bring light into these dark days ― Observer
Heady armchair escapism ... An impressionistic, intoxicating rush of sensory experience ― Sunday Times
By the end the reader may be unable to decide whether Hydra enchanted or cursed those attracted by its primitive beauty, cheap rents and easy access to sex, drugs and performance poetry . A novel about the treatment of women by artistic men ― The Times
Beautiful ... Perfect if you want to escape the drudgery of another lentil dinner and dream of 1960s Hydra with Leonard Cohen -- Dolly Alderton
It is a grand read and the prose falls translucently like the air ... Superb work and a delightful novel -- Thomas Keneally
Such a lyrical, elegant and beautifully told story -- Joanna Cannon
So vivid that you can see the sun-washed white houses and blue seas ― Good Housekeeping, Book of the Month
I cannot tell you how much I needed this beautiful book to transport me back to 1960s Greece! Lyrical, sexy, tender and sad in places. Highly recommended -- Erin Kelly
This radiant novel will transport you straight to Greece - a blessing at a time when most of us are stuck in our homes ― Cosmopolitan
Delicious -- Nigella Lawson
This well-crafted novel beautifully captures the texture of a halcyon age in which anything seems possible ― Daily Mail
Dreamily nostalgic ― Observer, Fiction to look out for in 2020
About real people living in Hydra in 1960. Steeped in nostalgia that's both sad and beautiful. It's fascinating, immersive and so MOVING -- Marian Keyes
Hands down the best book I've read all year. Luminous, immersive, gorgeous, profound -- Joanne Harris
Her best work yet, so evocative and alive with the scents and colours of a Greek summer ... Among the best prose writers of her generation. The writing is just delicious -- Cressida Connolly
I was utterly entranced. It feels entirely true and effortless and compelling - in the way that all great novels do -- Justine Picardie
If summer was suddenly like a novel, it would be like this one. Immaculate -- Andrew O'Hagan
A seductive story, suffused with nostalgia ― Sunday Mirror
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