Tell

‘Given that so many of Buckley’s novels are concerned with ideas of memory, selfhood and storytelling, this is hardly new territory for him. Yet the interview conceit in Tell makes it feel fresh, the withholding of interiority requiring an unusual engagement. Don’t take the conversational prose at face value; underneath it lies a whole other set of mysteries besides Curtis’s. Pay attention and you’ll find them.’
― George Cochrane, Financial Times

‘Always well crafted, this novel is engaging in parts and digressive in others, which adds to its realism, capturing how people chatter their way down alleys, rarely hewing to the main road of a tale…. The buildup in Tell is perpetual, a sense that an explanation must be coming. But the author diverges from expectations and converges on reality, where remembering is not the same as understanding. Abruptly, someone may just disappear, and all that remains is the sight of a figure wandering across a bridge - no splash heard, just the fading ripples of “why.”’
― Tom Rachman, New York Times

‘[T]he gardener’s voice is companionable and persuasive, and, as she speaks, the sound comes in from all around. All of this adds up to a rich and satisfying portrait ... and a fascinating exploration of what it means to tell stories about our lives.’
― David Annand, Times Literary Supplement

‘Buckley... asks readers to think about how and why stories are told. This self-reflexivity results in a thought-provoking, artfully constructed narrative enriched by the mysteries that expand and proliferate throughout. It’s a deliciously fraught tour de force.’
― Publishers Weekly, starred review

‘[A] riveting thriller that sweeps you in from the off... Buckley’s prose is unpretentious and engrossing, weaving in a constant sense of foreboding that proves irresistible.’
― Martha Alexander, AnOther Magazine

‘A novel about the nature of storytelling, and who gets to tell and shape them.’
― Kirkus

‘Buckley’s fiction is subtle and fastidiously low-key ... every apparently loose thread, when tugged, reveals itself to be woven into the themes [and] gets better the more you allow it to settle in your mind.’
― Michel Faber, Guardian

‘Exactly why Buckley is not already revered and renowned as a novelist in the great European tradition remains a mystery that will perhaps only be addressed at that final godly hour when all the overlooked authors working in odd and antique modes will receive their just rewards.’
― Ian Sansom, Times Literary Supplement

‘Few writers manage to conjure such raw unease as Jonathan Buckley ... completely compelling.’
― Adrian Turpin, Financial Times

‘Why isn’t Jonathan Buckley better known? His novel of love, death and melancholy comedy, The Great Concert of the Night, is captivating.’
― John Banville