'A <b>powerful </b>novel. The all-important relationship between mother and son is evoked with <b>skill and vivacit</b>y'<i> </i>

Literary Review

A <b>characteristically tender</b> novel about <b>a young man growing up in the shadow of one war and the whispers of the next</b>, with <b>his mother always watching over him</b>

Observer

The complex, near-incestuous bond between mother and son is <b>drawn with sharp-eyed affection</b>, as is the small-town Cornish setting. <b>It stands with the best queer literary fiction of a historical bent, illuminated as it is by Gale's devilish wit and talent for both social observation and intricacies of character</b>

Sydney Morning Herald

<b>The magic happens though when Gale takes his inspiration from lines of poetry or fragments of Charles' diary and gives him, and Laura, a rich and poignant life</b>. <b>A nicely woven, gentle tale of an ordinary life in extraordinary times</b>, a tale of a boy born into hardship with no sense of self-pity, raised by his mother to be who he shall be. <b>It's quite lovely</b>

New Zealand Herald

'<b>Gentle </b>. . . <b>evocative</b>'<i> </i>

Daily Mail

A<b> touching, utterly convincing</b> portrait of the nascent artist'

Mail on Sunday

<b>A gorgeous coming-of-age story - this tender novel will touch hearts</b>

Good Housekeeping

<i>Mother's Boy</i> is further proof that <b>Patrick Gale is that rare kind of storyteller - utterly engaging, compelling and unputdownable</b>

Sarah Winman

<b>I loved it</b>. It's <b>an incredibly evocative, enjoyable read</b>...I didn't want it to stop. I wanted to stay in the world and carry on.

Cathy Rentzenbrink

<p><b>A lovely, generous, absorbing novel. </b>Charles is made <b>both 'of' and belonging to his place and world, while also not fitting into it</b>. The war sections are <b>so very good, so terrible and ugly and gritty. I absolutely believed all of it</b></p>

Tessa Hadley

You know sometimes, <b>from the very first page of a book, you feel so at home</b> and <b>so involved with the story</b>, it's <b>as if you've walked alongside the characters all your life</b>? <i>Mother's Boy</i> is one of those books. <b>A sign of an incredible storyteller</b>

Joanna Cannon

<i>Mother's Boy</i> <b>beautifully celebrates the underdog</b>. It is a celebration of <b>love in hidden places, and love in ordinary places, and the courage required to be true to the person you are, when there is no road map to guide you</b>. <b>A sublime piece of storytelling</b>'

Rachel Joyce

<b>A wonderfully tender account of a poet's coming of age </b>against the brutal backdrop of World War 11. <b>Scene after scene is delivered with filmic intensity. Patrick Gale is a master of atmosphere, detail and the deep currents of latent passion</b>

Philip Marsden

Patrick Gale always <b>writes so well of his men and of the women near them</b>. In <i>Mother's Boy </i><b>his women shine as brightly as the men, his characters age and grow by themselves, alive in their actions, hopes and losses</b>.

Stella Duffy

Patrick Gale's writing has an <b>unmatched ability to take you by the hand and just casually, quietly, lead you in, and in, and in</b>. It all seems so simple, and then you're in tears

Louisa Young

Patrick Gale's <i>Mother's Boy</i> is <b>a tour-de-force</b>; <b>the book is really a love-letter, to motherhood, and to the landscapes and townscapes of Gale's adopted home county of Cornwall</b>. Most of all, it is a <b>heartfelt tribute from one fine writer to another; a patient and subtle reflection on the tricky art of noticing - and enduring - what really matters in life</b>

Neil Bartlett

<b>Gale has a rare talent for evoking human relationships</b>. Here he exploits his skill fully, <b>richly examining the dynamics between mother and son, and between men and men</b> allowed in extraordinary times to explore what they really mean to one and other

Petroc Trelawny

<b>I think Charles Causley would be incredibly happy - and stunned - if he were able to read your book.</b> What you've done is extraordinary; you've somehow created a world that only Causley could have been born into and grown up in. <b>His poetry calls up emotion; there's always much more than at first appears - and your story suggests, in the most sensitive and subtle way</b>

Vivian French

<b>Storytelling like this</b>,<b> from structure to sentence to imagery to sheer rolling belief in the world and its people</b> - <b>these qualities are a rare treat</b>. Want to learn how to write a novel? Read this or any other by Patrick Gale

Eleanor Anstruther

'A <b>gentle </b>read'

Irish Times

'A <b>beautifully nuanced</b> story'

Woman & Home

'He makes the ordinary <b>compelling</b>, the commonplace <b>universal</b>'<i> </i>

Town & Country Magazine

'A <b>fascinating </b>look at the formative years and experiences of a complicated man, and the woman who loved him unconditionally'

Red

'<b>Deeply</b> <b>moving </b>. . .<b> Heart-warming </b>and <b>credible' </b>

Tablet

He deals <b>sympathetically but honestly</b> with his subjects. <b>Gale helps modern readers understand that it was so very different then</b>, and while much has changed, things can always take a turn (or a return) for the worse

Pink News