The Invention of Exile

Reviews / Votes

'moving... evokes exile's restless rhythms' * Independent on Sunday * '[An] assured debut...Manko paints a complicated and richly human portrait of the specific loss and separation that borders impose - a timeless subject that resonates with particular relevance in the contemporary moment.' -- San Francisco Chronicle 'An eventful story' * The Mail on Sunday * 'Manko... writes beautifully about the pain of exile and the longing for home' * The Times * 'Manko's prose and pacing are remarkably assured, rapid when traversing oceans and decades, unbearably tense when Voronkov attempts to re-enter America... With these indelible pages, Manko does her ancestors proud.' * Independent * ''Heart-rending and powerful... Manko's intricate descriptions of settings move effortlessly between each country. She has the ability to create magnificent spaces... The minutiae of human existence, both through sensual experience and interior mental processes, are written with ease. I became totally immersed' 8/10 * Curious Animal * 'Vanessa Manko's fantastically ambitious and rewarding novel, The Invention of Exile, lovingly and carefully details the terrible but wondrous twinning of one man's fate with Russian, Mexican and American history.' -- Rivka Galchen 'Vanessa Manko is a voice for the years to come.' -- Colum McCann 'An achingly immediate, sensuous and psychologically acute novel about a man whose life has been suspended by the madness of American politics.' -- Siri Hustvedt 'A brilliant debut. I commend it to you all.' -- Salman Rushdie 'A beautiful, bewitching and profound novel.' -- Francisco Goldman