The Crane Wife

twisting and sliding out of it at surprising angles -- Helen Brown Daily Telegraph * This is a novel about stories and the way they change from teller to teller. That motif emerges subtly at first, before becoming explicit as the climactic calamity arrives in several versions. By that painful finale, this flight of fancy is one his readers will be only too glad to have embarked upon -- Brian Donaldson The List * A fusion of mid-life crisis comedy and classic storytelling -- Kate Saunders The Times * It is rare to read a fictional reworking of a myth that doesn't simplify its source, that can do what myths do and convey a truth that the reader responds to but cannot necessarily define. The Crane Wife succeeds in this, which is why it is truly a book for grown-ups -- Jake Kerridge Literary Review * Delightful and heart-warming Grazia * Brave and beautiful, full of compassion -- Independent (On A Monster Calls) * Implicit in The Crane Wife is an insistence that differences are constructive and stories polysemous. Ness' stories exist simultaneously vibrating alongside one another, not jostling for positions so much as offering as many meanings as one can handle, and steadfastly refusing to be reduced to any one narrative of signification Words of Mercury * [The Crane Wife] opens windows to a world that is magical, timeless and wonderful and it stirred my heart in a way that few books can. If you've any interest at all in love, beauty and what makes us human, you should read this book and let it work its magic on you -- Penny Tattersall Little Reader Library * The Crane Wife is a magical and beautiful book - spellbinding from start to finish Herald on Sunday (New Zealand) * It is rare to read a fictional reworking of a myth that doesn't simplify its source, that can do what myths do and convey a truth that the reader responds to but cannot necessarily define. The Crane Wife succeeds in this, which is why it is truly a book for grown-ups -- Jake Kerridge Literary Review * A memorable and meaningful work on the combined elements of kindness, love, regret, loss and forgiveness -- Lou Pendergrast More2Read * I absolutely adored The Crane Wife. It made me cry at the start, possibly at the end, and a few times, with laughter, through the middle ... I still find myself pondering what has happened to the characters since, always the sign of a good read, and the writing just blew me away Savidge Reads * A great new book from a great writer who we have been harping on and on about for years and years Booktrust * The dialogue is natural and inspired, and sparkles with latent tension Independent on Sunday * The Crane Wife is that bittersweet mix of happy-sad satisfaction, a beautiful something that stays in the mind in the hours and days after the book is closed and the reading finished, a consideration of who we are and what we seek in and from life -- Stardust Reader * Ness is a highly accomplished storyteller and the gravitational pull of the earthbound strand of his tale is strong enough to stop it from floating off into whimsy. He also has a rare ability to cut poignancy with humour. Folk tales rely less on their message than the pervasiveness of their atmosphere and while Ness's moral remains more opaque than clear, the mood he creates is unsettling and potent -- Michael Prodger Financial Times * The shifting points of view infuse our world with a bright, spiritual resonance -- Ben Felsenburg Metro * Patrick Ness's effortless prose enchants as the doomed love affair unfolds to reveal the inevitable, tear-jerking confl agration at the novel's end -- Sarah Crowden The Lady * The writing is magical, infused with everyday living yet blends with it the element of folklore with great tact. I left the book while I was about to sleep and found myself waking up in the middle of the night and turning the pages right through The Hungry Reader * The Crane Wife will leave you moved and possibly in tears. The writing is sharp and funny, beautiful and ephemeral. It's a book about stories and love, art and beauty told in an unexpectedly moving way; it will carry you up on the wings of the crane marvelling at the beauty to be found in being human Bookmunch * The Crane Wife is a delight. Who would I recommend it to? Anyone who is bored with reality. Anyone who likes to find joy, innocence and beauty in life Lynette Washington * A suburban morality tale, set in all-too-real south London, but transformed into something delicate and full of wonder Financial Times * This is a novel that will transport you in all kinds of ways; whether you read it in bed, at the breakfast table, on the tube or the subway, or surreptitiously while at worl, it will work its patient magic on you, and it will linger in your mind and heart long after you've put it down Dreaming Between The Lies