The Kindness

Cumulatively addictive: intriguing, cleverly structured, lyrical without pretension and thoroughly engrossing … The book is hard to put down. I finished this story of loss, lies and flawed communication at two in the morning, desperate to know the truth. As a second novel, this really was worth the wait

Cumulatively addictive: intriguing, cleverly structured, lyrical without pretension and thoroughly engrossing … The book is hard to put down. I finished this story of loss, lies and flawed communication at two in the morning, desperate to know the truth. As a second novel, this really was worth the wait

Dark, sensual and clever. I loved this book so much I finished it then started re-reading it to see how she did it

Lush, lyrical prose … The Kindness is to be read more than once, not merely to enjoy again the beauty of the writing and the considerable insights into human experience, but to test the earlier narrative with the knowledge of what is to come

The Kindness wears its structural complexity lightly, the voice and the pace so assured that it seems remarkable that this is only Samson’s second novel. It’s a rare achievement to create a book that is at once a wise and tender meditation on the nature of love and disappointment, and a page turner that will keep you awake into the small hours

It is a beautifully-written and intricately-constructed piece of writing; shining, poetic and sumptuous; a portrait of a sunlit lake, which at any moment may reveal itself to be the scene of a tragedy. Polly Samson is a writer of great insight and sensitivity; her novel is moving, wistful, wise and ultimately hopeful; grown-up in all the right ways, but still with a simplicity that comes directly from the heart

A gorgeously chilling novel about grief and betrayal, with writing so visual and gripping that I can picture the house at the centre of the drama, Firdaws, almost as well as if I had grown up there myself. Samson seems to write in colours, and fans of her 2010 short story collection Perfect Lives will find this novel well worth the wait

Samson is a richly sensory writer … A sumptuous, serious story about how an act of immense love can at the same time be one of terrible betrayal, and how we deceive ourselves as much as we deceive one another

Compelling … Atmospheric and vividly told, the book is a poignant examination of love, guilt, betrayal and the deception that can lie at the heart of every relationship

Family proves far from idyllic in this poetic, sensual story of betrayal and lies. Writer and lyricist Samson’s prose is dazzlingly evocative, as she explores how relationships are rarely what they seem

Secrets and misunderstandings fuel Polly Samson’s involving, melancholy and cleverly constructed second novel … This is a mature and haunting novel about love and loss that asks if we all, in the end, see what we want to see ****

This is elegant, witty writing, informed throughout by generosity and wise perceptiveness. Dealing with many kinds of love, and with misunderstanding, betrayal, grief and forgiveness, the novel dares to posit, ultimately, the possibility of redemption. It is a book to cherish, to recommend, to return to

Beautifully written and plotted with serpentine cunning, Samson’s novel is what might be called a love story for adults: unsentimental, at times harsh, but ultimately uplifting

Intensely evocative … Samson treats this difficult subject with candour and compassion … The novel’s effortlessness, its readability, sweeps everything in its wake … This is a book to relax into ****

Polly Samson’s mastery of the English language is powerful and impressive

Annoyingly close to perfection

Polly Samson is the author of two short story collections and two previous novels. Her work has been shortlisted for numerous prizes, translated into several languages and has been dramatised on BBC Radio 4. Her novel The Kindness was named Book of the Year by The Times and Observer . She has written lyrics for four Number One albums, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

pollysamson.com @PollySamson