{"product_id":"the-lie-of-the-land-9781408709290","title":"The Lie of the Land","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e''Terrific, page-turning, slyly funny'' India Knight\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''As satisfying a novel as I have read in years'' Sarah Perry\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''Absolutely magnificent'' Marian Keyes\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eQuentin and Lottie Bredin, like many modern couples, can''t afford to divorce. Having lost their jobs in the recession, they can''t afford to go on living in London; instead, they must downsize and move their three children to a house in a remote part of Devon. Arrogant and adulterous, Quentin can''t understand why Lottie is so angry; devastated and humiliated, Lottie feels herself to have been intolerably wounded.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMud, mice and quarrels are one thing - but why is their rent so low? What is the mystery surrounding their unappealing new home? The beauty of the landscape is ravishing, yet it conceals a dark side involving poverty, revenge, abuse and violence which will rise up to threaten them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSally Verity, happily married but unhappily childless knows a different side to coun\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere is much to relish here. The sharp characters, the smooth grown-up prose, the irony, and the ability to weave warmth and dark honesty like few other novelists can. \u003cb\u003eA very good read indeed\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTerrific, page-turning, slyly funny * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003eAmanda Craig's new novel delivers wit, mysteries and a dark commentary on the differences between life in the London bubble and the rest of the country * Daily Mail *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbsolutely magnificent state of the nation novel\u003c\/b\u003e . . . very funny, very painful. If a man like John Lanchester had written this they'd be calling it a searing indictment of contemporary Britain\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA gripping, compassionate and often funny take\u003c\/b\u003e on a cross-section of Britain that fiction tends to overlook. In the end, it is good to get out of London * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003eFunny, compassionate and psychologically probing * Bernardine Evaristo *\u003cbr\u003eCraig's humour is truthful and easygoing, and she's even-handed to both the weird Devonians and xrass urban \"incomers\". Just as in \u003ci\u003eCold Comfort Farm\u003c\/i\u003e, there is something nasty in the woodshed * Vogue *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAs satisfying a novel as I have read in years.\u003c\/b\u003e It is a wickedly observant comedy of manners, very alert to the way we live now, but somehow never cruel or judgmental * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAmanda Craig is one of the most brilliant and entertaining novelists now working in Britain\u003c\/b\u003e and her range of sympathy and humor and understanding of the Way We Live Now are deeply impressive * Alison Lurie *\u003cbr\u003eWitty, vicious, dark and unsettling, it's a book that has finally propelled Craig to her rightful place at the top table of contemporary novelists * Observer *\u003cbr\u003eLike those great, state-of-the-nation chroniclers Balzac and Dickens, she perceives how all levels of society are unwittingly interconnected. In \u003ci\u003eThe Lie of the Land,\u003c\/i\u003e she assembles a cracking cast of characters...\u003cb\u003eIf Evelyn Waugh had a social conscience and liked children, he could have been Craig\u003c\/b\u003e * Sunday Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003eIt's a hell of a novel - dark, gripping and beautifully written * Observer *\u003cbr\u003eCraig's energetic satire of middle-class manners segues seamlessly into edge-of-the-seat murder mystery * Daily Mail *\u003cbr\u003eI loved the \u003ci\u003eThe Lie of the Land\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cb\u003eA panoramic, superbly-plotted novel \u003c\/b\u003eabout the ways we live now, about money and desire, cruelty and generosity, crime and vengeance, country and city. \u003cb\u003eCraig is at the top of her game\u003c\/b\u003e in the sweep of her storytelling, the richness of her characters, her black comedy, irony and commitment * Helen Dunmore *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e One of my favourite reads of 2017...\u003c\/b\u003e Craig's characters - old pop stars, failed poets, casual racists - are perfectly drawn and the writing is sharp, witty and very well-researched. I swear I'll never eat another meat pie after reading this. \u003cb\u003eIt works on every level... a social satire, a family drama and, yes, a mystery\u003c\/b\u003e * Antony Horowitz *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA wily novel turns the country idyll on its head\u003c\/b\u003e...This is a novel that pulls in all sorts of directions but keeps in sight that people are always capable of change * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eConnoisseurs of schadenfreude will love this cautionary tale * Mail on Sunday *\u003cbr\u003ean assured tale of rural disillusionment... \u003cb\u003eAn enjoyable, sharp-witted and at times knowingly melodramatic novel, it lives up to the promise of its title\u003c\/b\u003e * Financial Times *\u003cbr\u003eThis clever novel, with its dollop of state-of-the-nation reflection, is timely * Mail on Sunday *\u003cbr\u003eCompanionable, deceptively lightly written novel that uses a marriage-in-crisis plot to expose the fault lines in post EU referendum Britain * Metro *\u003cbr\u003eA great novelist, with an extraordinary mixture of deep compassion for humanity and a witheringly satirical eye, Amanda Craig shows us the reality, through the eyes of her expertly drawn characters * Country Life *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCraig's finger is on the nation's pulse\u003c\/b\u003e in this sharply perceived family drama * Woman \u0026amp; Home *\u003cbr\u003eThere is powerful nature writing here, as well as social satire. Think James Rebanks's \u003ci\u003eThe Shepherd's Life\u003c\/i\u003e, but with sex, politics, malice, murder and Le Creuset saucepans . . . Craig is whetstone-sharp . . . ingenious. I was sure I'd solved it, but Craig is clever at herding you in the wrong direction with feints and false leads * Spectator *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA hugely readable book \u003c\/b\u003epacked with incident gradually turns into a rich and revealing portrait of contemporary Britain * Readers Digest *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA hugely entertaining black comedy and psychological thriller rolled into one\u003c\/b\u003e * Saga *\u003cbr\u003eCraig writes with intelligence and humour and she is curious about the world * New Statesman *\u003cbr\u003eA clever, pacy and well-observed novel * Sunday Express *\u003cbr\u003eSharply satirical * Observer *\u003cbr\u003eStartlingly vivid and affecting . . . impressively nuanced and ultimately moving * Literary Review *\u003cbr\u003eMore than just a state-of-the-nation dispatch: it is also a clear-eyed yet unfailingly compassionate examination of a long marriage...\u003cb\u003eAs generous and wise as it is witty and incisive, this novel is the timeliest of page-turners\u003c\/b\u003e * The Lady *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA marvellously readable novel\u003c\/b\u003e, written with great humour and spark, but also social heart and central relevance to the way we live now. To achieve both in one is a terrific - and uncommon * Caroline Sanderson, the Bookseller *\u003cbr\u003eYou have a treat in store when you read the \u003cb\u003ewitty and insightful\u003c\/b\u003e new novel by Amanda Craig. \u003cb\u003e I just *love* \u003ci\u003eThe Lie of the Land\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, on so many levels. \u003ci\u003eLand\u003c\/i\u003e works as a rollicking narrative, a forensic examination of a marriage many will recognise, a skilful portrayal of rural poverty (spiritual as well as economic) and a serious evocation of the way humans can change * Bel Moooney *\u003cbr\u003eAs we watch the Bredin family tumble down the property ladder out of the city to the shock of country life, \u003cb\u003eAmanda Craig fearlessly and faultlessly dissects our 21st century life capturing all the anxieties and absurdities of austerity era Britain\u003c\/b\u003e. We are left simultaneously laughing and cringing as we can't fail to see ourselves in the lives of those portrayed in \u003ci\u003eThe Lie of the Land\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cb\u003eLike all great fiction, it embraces us with a brilliant story while holding up an unflinching mirror asking questions of ourselves\u003c\/b\u003e * Roland Gulliver, Associate Director, Edinburgh International Book Festival *\u003cbr\u003eAn ingenious plot and a literally breathtaking denouement. Whether you are urban or rural, there is much here to keep you engrossed; often with a wince of self-awareness * Jewish Chronicle *\u003cbr\u003eCraig's portrayal of the raw knottiness of family life is highly entertaining, but amid the humour, \u003ci\u003eThe Lie of the Land \u003c\/i\u003eis a tale of the divisions of a contemporary Britain - where rural and urban lives, young and old, rich and poor are starkly juxtaposed. It is very much a novel of our time * Times Literary Supplement *\u003cbr\u003eIf you're after the juicier pleasures of a realist pageturner, pick up Amanda Craig's canny portrait of the bitter divisions in a marriage and the UK: \u003ci\u003eThe Lie of the \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eLand \u003c\/i\u003esees a privileged couple who feel too poor for London move to rural Dorset. There they discover how the other 90% live in an elegantly written expose of all the things the elite would rather not consider about poverty, inequality, food production and class, with a nailbiting mystery thrown in * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe first great Brexit novel\u003c\/b\u003e. Graced with Craig's expansive sympathy and darting wit, unlike the Brexiteer- Remoaner feud, it never descends into stupid caricature * Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003eA sharp and witty dissection of contemporary ills, particularly as exhibited in dampest Devon * Tablet *\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA timely and ironic portrait of a high-flying London couple and their family's decampment to rural Devon after\u003cbr\u003ethey lose their jobs and income. This is not a tale city dwellers meet rural but a blistering picture of every day life for the majority of the population\u003c\/p\u003e * Guardian *","brand":"Little, Brown Book Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49083940962647,"sku":"9781408709290","price":14.44,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781408709290.jpg?v=1725550513","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-lie-of-the-land-9781408709290","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}