Through the Window

So elegant is Barnes’ prose that it’s easy to overlook his comic talents…this is Barnes cementing his reputation as a lively, curious reader as well as one of Britain’s best living writers. – Tom Cox * Sunday Times, Books of the Year *
Engaging, eloquent, entertaining and erudite… There is a capacious generosity throughout this book, and I would defy anyone not to leave without feeling both better informed and better disposed… It is rare indeed for a collection of occasional pieces such as this to inspire feelings of profound thankfulness. – Stuart Kelly * Scotsman *
A truly wonderful collection. * Sunday Times *
The book relies on stylish intelligence and cool calm to accomplish its mastery… This is a coquettish book. Barnes flatters readers into feeling that they may be as shrewd, discriminating and attractive as he is. – Richard Davenport-Hines * Spectator *
A devastatingly brilliant critic. – Olivia Laing * Prospect *
As for the other essays, they all represent Barnes at his most engaged and, in his way, passionate… When he cares about something, you know it. – Nicholas Lezard * Guardian *
The parallels between Barnes’s essays and his fiction run much deeper. The Sense of an Ending asks to be read twice, once to listen to what the narrator has to say, and a second time to hear what he is busily avoiding or repressing, and many of these essays work in a similar way… His collection is also full of unexpected pleasures… Even the index is brimming with jokes. Such local surprises are typical of the book as a whole, which encourages readers to dip and rewards them for lingering. – Robert Douglas-Fairhurst * Telegraph *
There are many delightful biographical and bibliographical details among the literary criticism… Two recurring themes emerge from this anthology: France and death. Barnes is a keen observer of both lands. – Christian House * Independent on Sunday *
A wonderfully learned and witty guide to how fiction operates. – Anthony Cummins * Metro *
Man Booker Winner’s essays on fellow writers – magnificent. * Sunday Times Ireland *

Julian Barnes is the author of fourteen novels, including The Sense of an Ending, which won the 2011 Booker Prize, and Sunday Times bestsellers The Noise of Time and The Only Story. He has also written three books of short stories, four collections of essays and five works of non-fiction, including Nothing to Be Frightened Of and the Sunday Times number one bestseller Levels of Life. He was awarded the David Cohen Prize for lifetime contribution to literature in 2011, and the Legion d’honneur in 2017.

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