Both delicate and profound – about how relationships bind us together and pull us apart

Tracy Chevalier

Freud's control is masterful

Irish Times

A novel with the sharp tang of memory … I was swept up into this world of visceral intimacies, the fraught but powerful relationships between the main characters more than gripping enough to carry me along … It's the relationship between the sisters that lies at the heart of the novel, and Freud teases out its various pressure points with delicate, moving effect … This beguiling story of female experience and family ties is well worth the three-decade wait

Financial Times

Freud exposes the tensions of their sisterly bond – messy, mistake-strewn and quietly marvellous – with tender charm

Mail on Sunday

Fact and fiction intermingle, but this elegant novel is more than memoir

Irish Examiner

In 1992 Esther Freud's semi-autobiographical debut novel Hideous Kinky made her a name in the books world ... It was charming, fast-paced - and soon made into a film. So a sequel was a risk, but one which has paid off .... It captures everything from crushes to painful heels to heroin addiction, all in intense vignettes. A highly impressive account

The Times, The best books of 2025 so far - our critics' picks