Two people, one bleeding

And here's another review of Any Human Face, from The Fiction Desk this time. It's typically perceptive and I particularly enjoyed this sentence:

The character interactions are driven by Lambert’s interest in the way people react to power and vulnerability in themselves and in each other; it’s tempting to say that the archetypal Charles Lambert scene is one in which two people are in a room, and one of them is bleeding.

Fascinating, though I'm not sure how true this is. Any ideas?

Little Monsters returns!

This is getting better and better. Bookeywookey (subtitle: LITERATURE GOOD AND BAD, THEATER,AND NEUROSCIENCE....NO REALLY), who wrote the excellent review of Any Human Face mentioned in the previous post, has turned his critical eye on Little Monsters. To flattering effect. Here's a preview:

Lambert writes of the pain of existential longing with a knowing heart and a sure, forceful pen. He knows, as one character says to another in Little Monsters, that 'people are not simple,' and that's why I loved this beautiful novel. I feel I've discovered a deep well in Lambert. Sometimes his work evokes Hermann Hesse for me, although he is less of an innocent.

If I needed any encouragement to work on my next novel (though I don't), this would certainly provide it. Thank you, Ted.

Any Human Face review

And I found this review of Any Human Face waiting for me when I turned on my laptop this afternoon... Here's a taste of it.

This is an unusual book in that it has everything - love, suspense, moral conflict, social criticism, psychological acuity, and crack writing - but none of it is expected.

As Giuseppe would say, not bad.

Any Human Face launch

Any Human Face had its official UK launch yesterday evening in the Travel Bookshop, a place I wholeheartedly recommend for all your reading needs should you be in or near Notting Hill, and probably worth a specific trip for. (It is a travel bookshop, after all.) I was accompanied by Simon Barraclough, who pulled some fine Italian-focused work from his poetic hat, and introduced by my friend and agent, the poet Isobel Dixon, so I couldn't have been happier. I also had the chance not only to see some old friends - including one I haven't seen for 33 years (hello, Sara!) - some newer ones (hello, Katy!) and some very new ones ( hello Essie!), but also to cement some previously virtual ones (hello Rob! hello Anne!).

You can see more photos of the event here.