The Heart Broke In

Reviews / Votes

James Meek's new novel has all the urgent readability of his previous work combined with a wide-ranging vision of social and personal responsibility that's very rare in current fiction. I suppose we could call it a moral thriller. Whatever we call it, I was enormously impressed. * * Philip Pullman * * Addictive . . . Meek is a novelist of Dostoevskyan intensity and seriousness . . . Terrific . . . You have to admire the scope and ambition of this operatic saga * * Guardian * * Intelligent, compelling and epic in scale * * Woman & Home * * Page-turning and absorbing -- Victoria Moore * * Daily Mail * * James Meek is Britain's answer to Don DeLillo -- Brian Morton * * Independent * * In a literary culture that rewards narrow little books by sixtysomething white men about what it's like to be a sixtysomething white man, Meek's range, humour and boldness are a joy -- Louise Doughty * * Observer * * Set in the near future, [Meek's] sinister media underworld hits on the zeitgeist . . . the characterisation is affectionate and the story is gripping * * We Love This Book * * An enjoyable, thought-provoking read, going beyond satire to throw the questions back to the reader -- Andrea Mullaney * * Scotland on Sunday * * This is a big juicy slab of a book, as thrilling and nourishing as a Victorian three-parter . . . Meek constantly shift's the reader's own moral foundations, as we try to decide who is doing right and wrong and why and how -- Whynn Weldon * * Spectator * * The Heart Broke In is a realistic slice of life at the bench, reflect-ing both the admirable and the unflattering qualities of scientists * * Nature Magazine * *