Everyone Brave Is Forgiven

Powerful and moving … Cleave’s real revisionism exists in the very fabric of his prose. - Independent

A compelling and finely crafted novel…The Second World War is dangerous territory for a contemporary novelist: the enemies they face include familiarity, cliche, and the reader’s knowledge that any number of things happened then that were far stranger than fiction. For a writer to succeed in setting a tale in a period of heightened emotions, they need first to keep their own emotions under close control. Ian McEwan did this with Atonement, Sarah Waters did it with The Night Watch, and Chris Cleave does it too with Everyone Brave is Forgiven. - Financial Times

Loosely based on the author’s grandparents’ stories, this is a superb novel that breathes fresh life into an often brutal scenario. Particularly astute at demonstrating how war seeps into the psyche and changes it, this is beautifully written, funny, gut-wrenching and, above all, honest. - Daily Mail

An addictive, propulsive read … Cleave writes with an engaging intensity, a determination to tackle big moral issues, and a willingness to take risks. - The Sunday Times