As a writer I find it difficult to equate the cheerful feelings generated by a good book review. If, for example, I were to be taken out by my closest and finest friends to La Burbuja Que Ríe restaurant in Madrid and made to watch Aston Villa lift the FA Cup while listening to a good set of Beatles classics, I don’t think I could be much happier than I would be if I had just discovered I’d just had a good write up in a grand old publication.

So I’ll leave you to imagine how cheerful I was last Friday to read Jonathan Barnes’ review of Damn His Blood in the Times Literary Supplement:

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Image credit: MORBCN