A totally beguiling, utterly persuasive, argument for reimmersing yourself in literature's past... it reminds you of the overlooked treasures we miss in the chase for novelty. Hill's work is part memoir, part outpouring of affection for these she has loved and, en route, she provides us with a reading list the equal of any degree course
Michael Gove
... Read moreThe Times
An impressionistic autobiography... offers fascinating sketches of literary and artistic figures she has known... an eloquent advocate [for] the virtues of wide-ranging, deeply felt and considered reading... to be cherished
Michael Arditti
Daily Telegraph
Evoked with precision and grace... She is nicely opinionated throughout... She is whimsical and intimate, scattering rhetorical questions and colloquial half-sentences... beguiling
Victoria Glendinning
Spectator
[A] vividly experienced journey... viewing books and their authors with a learned, gossipy warmth. She understands that the best books make great companions, and this one is no exception
Metro
The blend of book chat and personal memoir, though apparently serendipitous, is associative and intimate
Iain Finlayson
The Times
A light-hearted memoir using books as anchors on which to fasten life experiences. Funny, educational and occasionally surprising
Catholic Herald
What a delightful book this is - and so old-fashioned in approach almost to be trendy... a timeless creation, a vademecum which will give endless pleasure not only to Hill's many admirers but also to anyone who values books... An engaging and buoyant book
Herald
Hill's style is vivid and measured and the book is both a passionate reminder of the importance of reading and a revealing glimpse of a writer's life
Jessica Holland
Observer
Delightful... an idiosyncratic commingling of fiction, non-fiction and poetry...Hill has a voracious and varied appetite and her taste, with a few exceptions, is impeccable
Leo Robson
New Statesman
A patchwork of literary musing, quotation and anecdote, the memoir's texture is wholesome and cosy; an indulgent quilt in which to nestle before the blazing hearth of literary tradition drawn by its author
Caroline Howitt
Times Literary Supplement
Strikes a chord with my own eclectic dithering through a literary Monument Valley, and one of the charms of this volume is how Hill's opinions, always honest and courteously proffered, set up resonances with one's own reading... an enjoyable meander, a genial pillow book of light wit and broad reading (including an astonishing amount of re-reading) whose tone remains on the pleasantly whimsical side of erudition
James Urquhart
Independent
Delightful... Charming... Her legion of fans will love it
Ian Pindar
Guardian
The narrative unreels in what Dr Johnson would call 'loose sallies of the mind'... A distinguished woman of letters
John Sutherland
Literary Review
Fans of Hill's work will be delighted by this leisurely ramble through the author's mind and reading pleasures. Hill writes eloquently about her literary influences and preferences, as well as her thoughts about the process of writing
Mslexia
Pure pleasure... Her voice on the page is younger than the date of birth on her passport, so one reads with disbelief her memories of writers she has known during her long writing life... I simply want to emulate Susan Hill's year... To take books from my shelves, to sit, to read. To feast on the books of my life
Country Living
One of the charms of this volume is how Hill's opinions, always refreshingly honest and courteously proffered, set up resonances with one's own reading. Howards End... is an enjoyable meander, a genial pillow book of light wit and broad reading whose tone remains on the pleasantly whimsical side of erudition
James Urquhart
Financial Times
Vivid and measured and the book is a passionate reminder of the importance of reading and a revealing glimpse of a writer's life
Observer
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