Press Reviews

• Publishers Weekly

  A masterpiece . . . Lila is a superb creation

• Harper's Bazaar

  One of the greatest living novelists . . . [Lila is] just as wise, moving and genuine as its predecessors

• Neel Mukherjee

  Independent

  Robinson brings [the story] to pulsating life in prose of great and luminous beauty . . . a book that leaves the reader feeling what can only be called exaltation

• Daily Mail

  This superb novel can only add to [Robinson's] already stratospherically high reputation

• Cressida Connolly

  Spectator

  Lila is a really beautiful book: beautiful prose, beautiful story; morally beautiful too. After reading it the world seems more dazzling, fuller of wonder and mystery than it did before, as if you were newly in love. I wish I could persuade everyone who ever buys a book to read this one

• Sunday Times

  Deeply moving, almost transformative . . . frank and direct, but occasionally moved to ecstasy by the spirit

• Scotsman

  Tinged with heartbreaking beauty

• The Times

  Although Lila revisits the characters of Robinson's previous books, Gilead, a Pulitzer prizewinner, and Home, a finalist in the American National Book Awards, and brings a certain completeness to their journeys, the book stands well on its own as a powerful search for the meaning of life as well as a touching and unlikely story of love and, ultimately, hope

• Claire Messud

  Financial Times

  Robinson is a glorious writer . . . This novel, different in tone from its predecessors, stands beautifully alongside them

• Tablet

  There is no one quite like this American writer, or quite as good as her . . . extraordinarily fluent and pitch perfect prose

• Literary Review

  Measured and lyrical; the sound of this book is akin at times to the Cormac McCarthy of The Road . . . Robinson writes brilliantly about the way people dance warily around each other, never quite coinciding, stricken with longing and love

• Rowan Williams

  New Statesman

  This third novel in the sequence is, in many ways, the most adventurous of all . . . Lila is the work of an exceptional novelist at the peak of her capacity

• List

  Lila is a deeply affecting exploration of existence, love and the inevitability of loneliness. And although enriched by the two preceding books, it has the strength, beauty and originality to be read, enjoyed and appreciated as a standalone work. Written in beautiful, poetic prose, it's a remarkable achievement

• James Kidd

  Independent on Sunday

  A sumptuous, graceful, and ultimately life-affirming novel

• Observer

  Robinson has made a world so palpable and full that each book can stand alone...Taken together, these books will surely be known as one of the great achievements of contemporary literature

• Scotland on Sunday

  Told with measured and absorbing elegance, this account of the growing love and trust between Lila and Reverend Ames is touching and convincing.

• Daily Telegraph

  Searching and full of grace

• Maggie Fergusson

  Intelligent Life (The Economist)

  Robinson explores eternity, and she does so in a quiet, ruminative style that takes over your heart as well as your head. Once you've fallen under her spell, she's not just mesmerising but indispensable

• Prospect

  Robinson's writing can light up consciousness, and make even the most passing thoughts feel indelible. Her older sister in American literature is Emily Dickinson

• List

  Lila is a deeply affecting exploration of existence and love

• Sarah Franklin

  Sunday Express

  The Gilead novels provide insights into a people whose fates are bound to the land they live on. Iowa must be proud to have such a chronicler among them

• Herald

  As a reader you feel very well looked after by Marilynne Robinson: you are knocked out by the weight of thought, the care, the worry she puts into her work. You find yourself wandering into vast new rooms, as if you're in a fabulous museum you've dreamt up for your own pleasure. There's really no one else writing like this today . . . Lila is just so damnably beautiful

• Stylist

  Lila has a power beyond words

• Mail on Sunday

  Mesmerising . . . reminiscent of the great Victorian novelists . . . Robinson's exquisitely wrought prose resonates

• Sarah Churchwell

  Guardian

  Her questioning books express wonder: they are enlightening, in the best sense, passionately contesting our facile, recycled understanding of ourselves and of our world

• Joan Bakewell

  New Statesman

  Subtle shifts of loyalties, strange moral priorities make [Robinson's] books compellingly powerful

• Amma Asante

  Observer

  The giant themes and big questions that sit beneath the surface of Lila's incredibly moving story are compelling

• Salley Vickers

  Observer

  My novel of the year can only be Lila by the inimitable Marilynne Robinson . . .my favourite living author and this once again demonstrates her remarkable gift for psychological depth

• Naomi Alderman

  Observer

  Exquisitely observed, an ultimately optimistic journey through the corrosive power of shame to divide and distort

• Robert McCrum

  Observer

  Lila by Marilynne Robinson is the heartbreaking conclusion to her Gilead trilogy

• Todd McEwen

  Sunday Herald

  Lila was the book of books this year, an amazing achievement

• The Economist

  One of the finest writers in America

• William Leith

  Evening Standard

  Intricate and beautiful

• Alan Spence

  Herald

  The novel of the year for me was Lila by Marilynne Robinson, revisiting the fictional Gilead of her three previous novels. The prose, as always, is magnificent, pitch-perfect, carrying a moral authority, a gravitas and a spiritual depth. There really is nobody else writing like this

• Independent

  Robinson writes beautifully and, as a sophisticated religious thinker, asks searching questions about faith and doubt

• Publishers Weekly

  A masterpiece . . . Lila is a superb creation

• Harper's Bazaar

  One of the greatest living novelists . . . [Lila is] just as wise, moving and genuine as its predecessors

• Neel Mukherjee

  Independent

  Robinson brings [the story] to pulsating life in prose of great and luminous beauty . . . a book that leaves the reader feeling what can only be called exaltation

• Daily Mail

  This superb novel can only add to [Robinson's] already stratospherically high reputation

• Cressida Connolly

  Spectator

  Lila is a really beautiful book: beautiful prose, beautiful story; morally beautiful too. After reading it the world seems more dazzling, fuller of wonder and mystery than it did before, as if you were newly in love. I wish I could persuade everyone who ever buys a book to read this one

• Sunday Times

  Deeply moving, almost transformative . . . frank and direct, but occasionally moved to ecstasy by the spirit

• Scotsman

  Tinged with heartbreaking beauty

• The Times

  Although Lila revisits the characters of Robinson's previous books, Gilead, a Pulitzer prizewinner, and Home, a finalist in the American National Book Awards, and brings a certain completeness to their journeys, the book stands well on its own as a powerful search for the meaning of life as well as a touching and unlikely story of love and, ultimately, hope

• Claire Messud

  Financial Times

  Robinson is a glorious writer . . . This novel, different in tone from its predecessors, stands beautifully alongside them

• Tablet

  There is no one quite like this American writer, or quite as good as her . . . extraordinarily fluent and pitch perfect prose

• Literary Review

  Measured and lyrical; the sound of this book is akin at times to the Cormac McCarthy of The Road . . . Robinson writes brilliantly about the way people dance warily around each other, never quite coinciding, stricken with longing and love

• Rowan Williams

  New Statesman

  This third novel in the sequence is, in many ways, the most adventurous of all . . . Lila is the work of an exceptional novelist at the peak of her capacity

• List

  Lila is a deeply affecting exploration of existence, love and the inevitability of loneliness. And although enriched by the two preceding books, it has the strength, beauty and originality to be read, enjoyed and appreciated as a standalone work. Written in beautiful, poetic prose, it's a remarkable achievement

• James Kidd

  Independent on Sunday

  A sumptuous, graceful, and ultimately life-affirming novel

• Observer

  Robinson has made a world so palpable and full that each book can stand alone...Taken together, these books will surely be known as one of the great achievements of contemporary literature

• Scotland on Sunday

  Told with measured and absorbing elegance, this account of the growing love and trust between Lila and Reverend Ames is touching and convincing.

• Daily Telegraph

  Searching and full of grace

• Maggie Fergusson

  Intelligent Life (The Economist)

  Robinson explores eternity, and she does so in a quiet, ruminative style that takes over your heart as well as your head. Once you've fallen under her spell, she's not just mesmerising but indispensable

• Prospect

  Robinson's writing can light up consciousness, and make even the most passing thoughts feel indelible. Her older sister in American literature is Emily Dickinson

• List

  Lila is a deeply affecting exploration of existence and love

• Sarah Franklin

  Sunday Express

  The Gilead novels provide insights into a people whose fates are bound to the land they live on. Iowa must be proud to have such a chronicler among them

• Herald

  As a reader you feel very well looked after by Marilynne Robinson: you are knocked out by the weight of thought, the care, the worry she puts into her work. You find yourself wandering into vast new rooms, as if you're in a fabulous museum you've dreamt up for your own pleasure. There's really no one else writing like this today . . . Lila is just so damnably beautiful

• Stylist

  Lila has a power beyond words

• Mail on Sunday

  Mesmerising . . . reminiscent of the great Victorian novelists . . . Robinson's exquisitely wrought prose resonates

• Sarah Churchwell

  Guardian

  Her questioning books express wonder: they are enlightening, in the best sense, passionately contesting our facile, recycled understanding of ourselves and of our world

• Joan Bakewell

  New Statesman

  Subtle shifts of loyalties, strange moral priorities make [Robinson's] books compellingly powerful

• Amma Asante

  Observer

  The giant themes and big questions that sit beneath the surface of Lila's incredibly moving story are compelling

• Salley Vickers

  Observer

  My novel of the year can only be Lila by the inimitable Marilynne Robinson . . .my favourite living author and this once again demonstrates her remarkable gift for psychological depth

• Naomi Alderman

  Observer

  Exquisitely observed, an ultimately optimistic journey through the corrosive power of shame to divide and distort

• Robert McCrum

  Observer

  Lila by Marilynne Robinson is the heartbreaking conclusion to her Gilead trilogy

• Todd McEwen

  Sunday Herald

  Lila was the book of books this year, an amazing achievement

• The Economist

  One of the finest writers in America

• William Leith

  Evening Standard

  Intricate and beautiful

• Alan Spence

  Herald

  The novel of the year for me was Lila by Marilynne Robinson, revisiting the fictional Gilead of her three previous novels. The prose, as always, is magnificent, pitch-perfect, carrying a moral authority, a gravitas and a spiritual depth. There really is nobody else writing like this

• Independent

  Robinson writes beautifully and, as a sophisticated religious thinker, asks searching questions about faith and doubt