Josh Lawton

Every scene is clear, every character immediately recognisable . . . brilliant

- Daily Telegraph

The book is exciting . . . a pleasure to be remembered

- Financial Times

It has the lilt and inevitability of an old ballad . . . [He] skilfully portrays the friendships and antagonisms in rural Cumberland, a territory he has staked out as his own

- The Times

With this novel, Melvyn Bragg has established his place in English letters to the extent that his Cumbria is as potent a literary region as Hardy's Wessex, Lawrence's Midlands and Housman's Shropshire

- New Statesman

Beautifully told . . .the story unfolds with admirable simplicity . . . even the most brutal and inarticulate characters somehow manage to engage our sympathies - Spectator

An effortless writer. He never strains for effect, simply achieves it - Sunday Times

Nothing is harder to convey in fiction than the idea of simple goodness without it appearing soppy or naive. But Melvyn Bragg succeeds. - Evening Standard

As he demonstrates yet again in Josh Lawton, Melvyn Bragg has a rare ability to communicate both happiness and goodness - Sunday Telegraph