Adroit, precise storytelling, atmospheric and satisfying; These Days is a novel of real substance. -- HILARY MANTEL Caldwell's luminous novel presents a city under siege and a family in anguish. Her sense of life during wartime and her psychological portraiture cannot be faulted; the cumulative force of personal and public crisis will not be forgotten. This is storytelling of a vertiginously high order. -- ANTHONY QUINN A captivating novel exploring a lesser known chapter of Northern Ireland's story. Caldwell has managed to capture the spirit and tenacity of the Belfast I know and love. This is a novel which looks suffering straight in the eye and yet will leave you full of hope. -- JAN CARSON Beautiful, lyrical, and deeply moving, These Days is a wonderful novel. -- LOUISE O'NEILL These Days is a deeply moving story of family, loss, sisterhood and how you can find yourself, even in the darkest of times. A truly gorgeous piece of storytelling, I could see and feel every word. Another absolute triumph for Lucy Caldwell.' -- FIONA SCARLETT A novel of enormous heart; full of luminous passages of prose, this tale of the Belfast blitz is breathtakingly good. -- ALEX PRESTON ― Observer, Fiction to look out for in 2022 What a visceral, powerful, authentic novel! It's hard to believe Lucy Caldwell didn't actually live through the Belfast Blitz, it's so accurately depicted. I felt I was there with the bombs, the blood, the chaos, the fear, and the resilience. -- TRACY CHEVALIER Meticulously researched and utterly convincing, These Days recovers the lost stories of so many, bringing the past horrors of the Belfast Blitz brilliantly to life like a haunting flare. -- SARAH GILMARTIN Anyone who read Lucy Caldwell's Intimacies will know what a beautiful writer she is and These Days, her first novel in a decade, is really something special ... So vividly evoked, this brought what life must have been like on the Home Front to life for me like nothing I've read before. -- Alice O'Keeffe ― Bookseller, Editor's Choice Meticulously researched, perfectly imagined, full of compassion and emotional truth. -- CLARE CHAMBERS Elegant and precise, I loved it. The vivid interiority Caldwell brings to the characters, particularly the three main women, is so impressive. I cared passionately about all of them. These Days is a gem of a novel. -- MARIAN KEYES This fine novel by one of Northern Ireland's most accomplished contemporary writers ... brilliantly evokes wartime love and heartbreak. -- Joseph O'Connor ― Guardian So well drawn . brilliantly described . a remarkably, unusually vivid piece of storytelling. ― The Times, Book of the Month A highly accomplished novel that will surely become the defining work of fiction about the Belfast Blitz... sensationally good ... It's the kind of writing you want to inhale and feel coursing through your bloodstream. ― Sunday Times This book is full of beauty. A remarkable writer. There is so much fresh, confident writing coming out of Northern Ireland this year, and These Days is sure to be one of the picks of the crop.' ― Irish Independent Beautiful. ― Prima
