Christmas in Austin

I adored it … It gives you such an extraordinary sense of family life, so much better than one usually gets.

One of those rich, immersive novels that leaves you wanting to WhatsApp all the characters when you have finished . . . Markovits treats his characters tenderly and his dialogue is achingly realistic . . . I was engrossed by the chewy relationship dynamics. It’s a novel that everyone should read before they face their own family Christmas.

A loving and nuanced portrait of a family's myriad functions.

Utterly absorbing . . . dramatises the chaos and claustrophobia of prolonged family gatherings.

Markovits has transposed onto this novel his trademark ear for natural conversation and microscopic attention to detail, producing an astute account of the complexities of human behaviour and emotion.

A subtle, complex, grown-up study of a modern family. There’s something pleasurable and astute to be found on every page.