The Sandglass
“Every time I think of what has happened to Pearl, and what might have happened to Prins, I feel the blood pump in my head.”
BBC Asia Award
‘Romantic, mysterious and laced with a sense of yearning... a roller-coaster ride’ Carolyn Hart, Marie Claire
‘Enormous compassion and insight, a tenderness that is infectious and forgiving. ... a songbird among authors’ Rosemary Goring, Scotland on Sunday
‘An amazing combination of a bleak and easy read..... the book slips on by you lightly, almost without effort.’ Ali Smith, Scotsman
‘A novel of true distinction, the work of a profoundly honest mind, one utterly unconcerned with th authorial self, intent instead on the lot of fellow humans and its meaning’ Independent on Sunday
'‘Mature meditation on time and death. There is a desperate sadness to it, which is totally engrossing. It is a brave, beautiful novel, which confronts chaos with relaxed wit and elegance.’ Simon Linnell, Sunday Telegraph
‘Elegiac, freighted with melancholy, The Sandglass paints a vivid portrait of a society in that recent past and in a frightening present’ Shena Mackay, Independent
‘This outstanding novel ... in this book the women are stronger than the men, and Pearl ...is strongest of them all’ Penelope Fitzgerald, Observer
‘The Sri Lankan episodes are often Dickensian in their blend of comedy and menace, the English scenes are touched almost everywhere with lyricism and sensuousness... behind the narrative’s deft and subtle interweavings of elaborate histories and fugitive memories, crashed dreams and still moments of promise, there lie strong echoes of Thomas Hardy’s poetry with its delicate images of remembered pleasures and visions of despoiling loss.’ Shirley Chew, Times Literary Supplement
‘Beautifully written prose,... deft way with characterisation and description, dialogue which is full of life, and buckets of charm ... there is a great deal of page-by-page pleasure ...’ Philip Hensher, Mail on Sunday
‘The Sandglass ... is chiselled and precise enough to register powerful emotion without lapsing into sentimentality. He writes movingly of human vulnerability and of the misfortunes and catastrophes that overwhelm individuals and nations.’ Suvir Kaul, India Today
‘A novel of true distinction, the work of a profoundly honest mind, one utterly unconcerned with th authorial self, intent instead on the lot of fellow humans and its meaning’ Paul Binding Independent on Sunday
'‘Mature meditation on time and death. There is a desperate sadness to it, which is totally engrossing. It is a brave, beautiful novel, which confronts chaos with relaxed wit and elegance.’ Simon Linnell, Sunday Telegraph
‘Elegiac, freighted with melancholy, The Sandglass paints a vivid portrait of a society in that recent past and in a frightening present’ Shena Mackay, Independent
‘Fiction of the week ... Few novels are more obviously - and deservedly - destined for major success.’ Eileen Battersby Irish Times
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