It is Brighton, 1959, and the theatre at the end of the pier is
having its best summer season in years. Ronnie, a brilliant young
magician, and Evie, his dazzling assistant, are top of the bill,
drawing audiences each night. Meanwhile, Jack - Jack Robinson, as
in 'before you can say' - is everyone's favourite compere, a born
entertainer, holding the whole show together. As the summer
progresses, the off-stage drama between the three begins to
overshadow their theatrical success, and events unfold which will
have lasting consequences for all their futures. Rich, comic, alive
and subtly devastating, Here We Are is a masterly piece of literary
magicianship which pulls back the curtain on the human condition.
'One to watch for 2020' according to: The Sunday Times The Times
The Daily Telegraph The Guardian Financial Times Evening Standard
The Scotsman The Irish Times 'He tells simple, truthful stories
about what feel like real people. Here We Are is a welcome addition
to a proud legacy.' The Big Issue The variety of voices and its
historical and emotional reach are so finely entwined, it is as
perfect and smooth as an egg. Passages leap out all the time,
demanding to be reread, or committed to memory... It is perhaps too
simple to say that Swift creates a form of fictional magic, but
what he can do with a page is out of the ordinary, far beyond most
mortals' ken.' Rosemary Goring,The Herald 'Here We Are is a subtle
portrait of a vanished world, with moving passages about the
problems of wartime evacuees returning to impoverished London life
after the wonders of the countryside.' The Independent 'In Here We
Are, Swift does not just dwell on the pivotal moments of our lives,
but traces their shockwaves both forward and back. Moving
seamlessly from pre-war to post, from the events of one illusory,
youthful summer to the present, we are given candid access to the
innermost reflections of three people who loved and betrayed each
other. The end result is the stuff of life, an enduring mystery
that Ronnie, Evie, Jack - that we all - must live with. I thought
it was wonderful.' Joseph Knox, author of Sirens 'As with all his
books, it's the moments of quiet, undramatic poignancy that stay
with you' Sunday Express 'a quietly, devastating, magical novel'
Telegraph 'With a wizardry of his own, Swift conjures up an
about-to-disappear little world and turns it into something of
wider resonance' Sunday Times 'We are propelled into something
extraordinary...Swift's closing account of a mundane world
momentarily pierced by a shaft of numinous mystery is magnificent'
New York Times 'Graham Swift has perfected a distinctive
style...his beautiful new novel Here We Are...is a work of magic:
neither trick nor illusion, but a flash of truth' Wall Street
Journal 'Swift captures the tragicomedy of life' Washington Post
'Here We Are is a paragon of the magic of compressed
narration...Once again, Swift has demonstrated wizardry in his
ability to conjure magic out of ordinary lives' NPR USA ' '"Here we
are." How easily those three small words can vanish in expected
niceties-and how loaded they can be with bewilderment at the
inexorable ''tilt of the world''. Graham Swift conjures them all,
and more, in this short, word-perfect novel' Sydney Morning Herald
'Graham Swift is the quiet master of fiction' The Age, Melbourne
'An ethereal foray into the vanishing world of the
magician...beautiful, breath-taking and heart-wrenching' Australian
Women's Weekly 'In 2016 with his book Mothering Sunday Graham Swift
reached a high plateau of storytelling art...Graham Swift's new
novel Here We Are is on the same high plateau as Mothering Sunday'
Suddeutsche Zeitung, Germany 'The beauty of Graham Swift's books is
that he gives you what you want without your knowing that you
wanted it. How does he achieve this magical feat? It remains his
secret. What a magician' Tagesspiegel, Germany 'Swift is a master
of the nuance and the hint, of what remains unsaid. In this respect
a novel about magic and illusion seems exactly the right terrain
for him...Once again he proves that he is one of the great
conjurers of contemporary literature' Wiener Zeitung, Austria
'Swift employs an unadorned but intense, musical prose that bathes
the events described in an elusive gleam...Not for the first time
Graham Swift captures the magic and mystery of 'ordinary' lives'
Het Parool, Netherlands 'The author knows, as always, how to render
the human condition with a light touch... To catch the magic of
life in words: an undertaking Graham Swift has mastered like no one
else' De Telegraaf, Belgium 'Swift doesn't write, he whispers. His
work is characterised by stories of ordinary life that, thanks to
his mediation, always reveal a universal dimension...Here We Are is
yet more proof of his incredible soft-voiced technique...a perfect
example of Swift's ability to touch the hidden poetry in every
human being' Corriere della Sera, Italy It is one of those
wonderful tales that one could have read fifty years ago or
discovered half a century hence with the same delight, one of those
novels of timeless beauty-thanks to the art of Graham Swift, who
has no equal in evoking the atmosphere of an era while probing
human psychology with irony and tenderness' L'Express, France
Praise for Mothering Sunday: 'Bathed in light; and even when
tragedy strikes, it blazes irresistibly... Swift's small fiction
feels like a masterpiece' Guardian 'Alive with sensuousness and
sensuality ... wonderfully accomplished, it is an achievement'
Sunday Times 'From start to finish Swift's is a novel of stylish
brilliance and quiet narrative verve. The archly modulated, precise
prose (a hybrid of Henry Green and Kazuo Ishiguro) is a glory to
read. Now 66, Swift is a writer at the very top of his game'
Evening Standard 'Mothering Sunday is a powerful, philosophical and
exquisitely observed novel about the lives we lead, and the
parallel lives - the parallel stories - we can never know ... It
may just be Swift's best novel yet' Observer
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