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‘From Midnight’s first words … the reader is charmed. Zimler’s ability to lay bare the horror of injustice, to find universal truths and poetry in everyday existence, and his faith in the human spirit, make reading Hunting Midnight an uplifting experience.’
Jerusalem Post
‘Zimler’s book is a triumph of modern fiction: an absolutely gripping narrative of love and loss set against a backdrop of fantastic historic drama. Zimler rises to the incredible quality of his bestselling The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon. The characters are rich and fully realized, and their conflicts are vital and real. They grow throughout the book, so that by the end you feel a real intimacy with them. I loved this book. Read it at once.’
Andrew Solomon, winner of the National Book Award (USA)
‘An ambitious historical epic from a superbly talented historical novelist, capable of combining fascinating broad-canvas glimpses of history with the most intimate portraits of the human heart in turmoil.’
Booklist (USA)
‘A page-turning story of cruelty, conspiracy and escape, plot-driven in a way that makes you read more greedily, eager to get to the iiend … Brave and intriguing … A delicate exploration of the ways in which repressed religion and culture shape experience, identity and loss.’
Sarah Dunant, author of The Birth of Venus
‘I defy anyone to put this book down. It’s a wonderful novel: a big, bold-hearted love story that will sweep you up and take you, uncomplaining, on a journey full of heartbreak and light.’
Nicholas Shakespeare, author of Bruce Chatwin and The Dancer Upstairs
‘Zimler is always an exhilaratingly free writer, free of ordinary taboos, and Hunting Midnight shows him at the height of his powers.’
London Magazine
‘An epic drama, spanning three continents and more than twenty-five years, building up to a genuinely moving climax.’
Literary Review
‘Reading Hunting Midnight was like discovering a rare gem. Richard Zimler is a brilliant author with a touch of genius.’
Rendevous Magazine (USA)
‘Enthralling … Hunting Midnight is a shamelessly sprawling historical novel, spanning continents, Napoleonic wars, a secret Jewish family, Kalahari magic and slavery.’
Sydney Morning Herald
‘Zimler’s tale of friendship and revenge [becomes]a search for the unexpected … Zimler is an honest, powerful writer.’
The Guardian
‘Zimler’s writing is pacey and accessible without ever patronising the reader – deeply moving’
The Observer iii
‘The strength of Guardian of the Dawn lies in its rich historical setting and in Richard Zimler’s creation of an idiomatic language that reflects the religious and cultural diversity of place and period … remarkable.’
Times Literary Supplement
‘A terrific storyteller and a wizard at conveying a long since vanished way of life.’
Francis King, Literary Review
‘While this novel is a testimonial for the thousands who suffered under the Inquisition in India, it is also a riveting murder mystery [by a] master craftsman.’
India Today
‘This is the third volume in Zimler’s luminously written series about the Zarcos, Sephardic Jews from the Iberian Peninsula. While the beginning reads like a nostalgic coming-of-age story—though in an exotic locale—a more suspenseful tone steps in halfway through. Its last sections deliver a warning on the dangerous sweetness of revenge, and how it can lead to a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions. As haunting and mysterious as India itself can be, this novel delves into the darkest currents of the human mind and heart. Few readers will emerge untouched.’
Historical Novel Society
‘Crime and punishment work their usual spell in this deeply absorbing work.’
Kirkus Reviews
‘Parallels with Shakespeare’s Othello are not accidental but nothing, to the smallest detail, is accidental with a writer who has fairly been called an American Umberto Eco.’
The Advertiser iv
‘An exciting adventure story … Scrupulously researched … Fascinating.’
The Independent
‘A gripping, heartbreaking and beautiful thriller … unforgettable, poetic and original.’
Simon Sebag Montefiore
‘The Seventh Gate is not only a superb thriller but an intelligent and moving novel about the heartbreaking human condition.’
Alberto Manguel, author of The Library at Night
‘Mixing profound reflections on Jewish mysticism with scenes of elemental yet always tender sensuality, Zimler captures the Nazi era in the most human of terms, devoid of sentimentality but throbbing with life lived passionately in the midst of horror.’
Booklist (starred review)
‘Adding a touch of Jewish mysticism to his historical thriller, Zimler … excellently captures the gamut of tumultuous emotions in his intense and detailed portrait of a city destined for war, and his exceptionally drawn characters struggling to survive in a world gone mad make for an unforgettable story.’
Library Journal (starred review)
‘Zimler, a seasoned American writer living in Portugal, combines sexy coming-of-age adventures with coming-of-Hitler terrors in this powerfully understated saga.’
Kirkus Reviews
‘The Seventh Gate is unforgettable … The reader will be haunted by these brave characters and the stirring murder mystery … The vSeventh Gate builds frustration and anxiety into a devastating and haunting conclusion … gripping, consuming, and shocking … unforgettable.’
New York Journal of Books
‘Zimler … surpasses himself with this coming-of-age epic set in Berlin at the start of the Nazi era … the whodunit is captivating enough, but the book’s power lies in its stark and unflinching portrayal of the impact of Hitler’s eugenic policies on the infirm and disabled.’
Publishers Weekly
‘Zimler [is] a present-day scholar and writer of remarkable erudition and compelling imagination, an American Umberto Eco.’
Francis King, The Spectator
‘Zimler has this spark of genius, which critics can’t explain but readers recognise, and which every novelist desires but few achieve.’
Michael Eaude, The Independent
‘The Search for Sana: a bold investigation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict … By obliging readers to see the past, [Zimler] illuminates the sources of injustice today … He writes in calm, clear prose adorned by the occasional glistening image like a jewel in a fast-flowing stream.’
Michael Eaude, Tikkun vi