Darkly funny . . . You can't help wishing that everyone was a bit more like Harriet (Emma Herdman Marie Claire)The Small Hours excites with refined delights . . . Boyt's economical prose remains elegantly polished, her descriptions of the subtleties of psychotherapy spine-tingling . . . A meaty yet accessible novel possessing great psychological rigour (Lucy Beresford Sunday Telegraph)An unsettling yet absorbing story (Ben Felsenberg Metro)Boyt weaves an engaging combination of psychological insight and piercing black humour to produce a thoroughly engaging, thought-provoking story (Mel Clarke The Lady)An exquisitely written tale of a damaged woman attempting to mend her past with a grand gesture (Psychologies magazine)The Small Hours is an absolute gem of a novel: exquisite, diamond-bright and lacerating to the hardest of hearts (Amanda Craig Literary Review)Boyt delicately interweaves the revelation of Harriet's past with the unravelling of her present and skilfully leavens the inevitable tragic conclusion with the exuberance and chatter of the girls, who bring as much joy to the reader as their teacher (Michael Arditti Daily Mail)Boyt has a gift for creating loveable protagonists . . . Boyt has studied Henry James and his stylistic influence is visible, both in the vibrant intensity of Harriet's character and the rich dramatisation of her consciousness (Freya McClelland Independent)Harriet's pain is clear through the fine mesh of taut and witty prose (A N Wilson Reader's Digest)A divinely dark book . . . The Small Hours reminds us of the best and the worst of how we treat each other (Jackie McGlone Sunday Herald)Boyt is a compassionate chronicler of the human heart . . . The point of this novel is not whether your dreams succeed or fail, but whether you're still willing to risk having dreams at all. In Harriet Mansfield, Boyt has drawn a character whose moral and emotional courage is both convincing and heartbreaking (Rebecca Abrams Financial Times)
