The Red House

A beautiful object that will grace any holiday home's unfixably wobbly bedside table. The cover feels like a cracked china plate, decorated with a clever re-working of the willow-pattern; like the contents, it is subtle and clever. Haddon writes superb books for children, teenagers and grown-ups, and gets every voice in this one dead right. He is also a master craftsman, so this complicated narrative moves with the speed and certainty of released, unhappy holidaymakers hitting the homeward road. So shove this in your holidaying bag. You may have made a mistake with the booking, but you won't with the book.

Susan Jeffreys, Independent

Haddon has penetrating compassion for even his least prepossessing characters. He’s frequently acute about the details of speech, response and self-presentation that differentiate people, and particularly so about the weird co-existence in us all of animal instincts and higher yearnings: hunger with grief, physical pain with spiritual need, hot lust with the desire to connect. His characters – the whole befuddling gaggle of them – are unquestionably felt, and felt for, and even loved. Haddon has created a family whose problems feel warmly immediate and utterly contemporary.

Hannah McGill, Scotland on Sunday

It’s not every writer who can describe everyday domestic trauma with wit and without condescension. It’s a lot of fun to watch these midlife and adolescent crises come to the boil. And what shines is Haddon’s flair for observational comedy

Anthony Cummins, Metro

CURL UP WITH…The Red House by Mark Haddon. An English family’s holiday – and the midlife and adolescent crises that erupt during it – is scrutinised from eight points of view in Mark Haddon’s warm and witty novel, which showcases his flair for observational comedy.

Metro, Top Things to Do This Weekend

Mark Haddon’s latest is his most mature work to date. It’s mature in terms of both content and style, and reading The Red House there’s a sense that this ‘growing up’ is quite purposely Haddon’s intention. An effortlessly engrossing and richly rewarding read.

Miles Fielder, The List

It's an old saying that you choose your friends but not your family and the family reunion has been well-used in literature, but Haddon breathes new life into it. He's never shied away from the difficult subjects and he deals sensitively with a child's burgeoning homosexuality but his real skill, his genius is in his understanding of mental problems, that disassociation between the mind and the brain. It's a book which is so right in every small detail but a gem when taken altogether.

The Bookbag

The book gave me the ever-changing, fascinating and the feeling that I was looking through a looking glass. The eight of them have their own secrets, longings and resentments which only make them as human as you and I. The writing zips in montages and sometimes it becomes difficult to figure who is carrying the baton, though once you get used to the writing, it isn’t difficult to figure. The language and symbolism is weaved very well for a story of a dysfunctional family. In some parts, it almost reminded me of Faulkner’s, "The Sound and the Fury". The Red House by Mark Haddon is a rollercoaster of emotions and all it works surprisingly well and all adds up at the end of the book. I would definitely and most certainly recommend this read for the long summer weekend that comes up.

The Hungry Reader

Haddon can marry extraordinary perception with uncluttered language... He also burrows into the minds of his protagonists with astute precision

Leyla Sanai, TLS

A hugely enjoyable, sympathetic novel...a tremendous pleasure...we have been absorbed, entertained and moved

Kate Kellaway, Observer

Mark Haddon is terrifyingly talented... The Red House is thoroughly engrossing and enjoyable entertainment

Angus Clarke, The Times

With writing as elegant and truthful as this, readers will wish to keep their copies close at hand to savour again

Michael Arditti, Daily Mail

There are passages here to die for

Christopher Bray, Daily Express

Haddon has a true understanding of the human heart. Whether he is writing about the teenagers...or the adults and their misjudgements, he never puts a foot wrong. The Red House shows that Haddon is much more than a one-hit wonder: he is a real novelist, and he is here to stay

Sophie Waugh, Spectator

Every bit as charmingly idiosyncratic as his brilliant The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Henry Sutton, Daily Mirror

Weaving the stories of wealthy Richard, his meek sister Angela and their families, he draws the strands together to a poignant conclusion

Good Housekeeping

As a fan of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time I was expecting this book to be special - and it was. A unique approach to family life and human relationships. Read it!

Essentials

An astute and bittersweet comic novel

Fanny Blake, Woman and Home

A bitingly honest tale of modern family life

In Style

Haddon writes superb books for children, teenagers and grown-ups, and gets every voice in this one dead right...a master craftsman

Susan Jefferies, Irish Independent

Honest and thought-provoking book

The Economist

Haddon achieves a remarkable mélange of streams of consciousness, snatches of books, music, TV, private thoughts, lists, letters, all intertwined with sharply observed vignettes of everyday banality, soaring flights of description

Carol Birch, Guardian

A masterly evocation of two dysfunctional, yet outwardly respectable families

Jane Clinton, Sunday Express

I read it twice, both times with enjoyment

Amanda Craig, Independent on Sunday

He is almost unrivalled at the notoriously tricky task of giving an authentic voice to children, and his ability to pinpoint the comic aspects of the everyday scenarios that arise on all vacations makes for an amusing read

Sunday Times

Shockingly well-observed, gut-wrenchingly familiar and even heartbreaking at times

Stylist

It looks like Mark Haddon is about to have a great big success all over again

David Sexton, Evening Standard

Brilliantly readable… Comic and bittersweet

Observer

A closely observed domestic drama…

Carol Birch, Guardian

Characteristically original, deftly observed...

Mail on Sunday

A beautifully orchestrated novel that gently questions how we define success

James Urquhart, Financial Times

[Haddon] shows a knack for portraying family dynamics…

Alastair Mabbott, Herald

Mark Haddon proves himself a master of the domestic drama

Big Issue in the North

Gripping drama

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