Industry Reviews
'In this screw-turning, chilling study of a suburban sadist, all the elements of Harrower's oeuvre-fairytale, existentialism, human wasters and willing victims-come together with the perfect inevitability that makes a classic.' Weekend Australian on In Certain Circles 'A novel of astonishing psychological insight exploring the darker aspects of human attraction...Her great strength as a writer is the frequency with which she captures human behaviour in a few deft words.' Saturday Paper on In Certain Circles 'Harrower's skill in evoking a place is impressive. Her eye for oddities of behaviour, for quirks of character and for patches of pretentiousness is as sure as ever. The wry intelligence of her view of middle-class Australian life is evident throughout. Her writing is characteristically sharp and pithy.' Sydney Morning Herald on In Certain Circles 'Harrower evokes the waste and futility of a decadent class with all the bite and poignancy of F. Scott Fitzgerald.' Eimear McBride on In Certain Circles 'Lyrical, insightful and finely tuned.' Otago Daily Times 'Enchanting...That Harrower has, up until recently, been denied a place in the Australian literary canon, is a tragedy-one that can only be remedied by reading her. A Few Days in the Country: And Other Stories is a fantastic place to start.' Lip Mag 'One has to think hard of a book in which so much pleasure has been wrenched from so much pain. While the skies are overcast here, what happens on the ground is brightly lit, hilariously cast by lashings of irony and overstatement...This is the work of an activist in disguise as an entertainer.' John Freeman, Australian '[A Few Days in the Country creates] taut portraits and compact examinations of power, vulnerability and hope...Harrower's best stories slip as surely into your bones as her novels.' Sydney Morning Herald/Age 'The range of stories and styles demonstrates Harrower's extraordinary literary skill...A Few Days in the Country and Other Stories offers no sure-fire formulas, but through its interrogation of characters' psychological motivations it affords a deeper understanding of human behaviour.' Australian Book Review '[Harrower] reveals an astonishing facility to reveal a world in a few brush strokes.' West Australian 'Harrower has the disconcerting knack of looking at life and seeing it unadorned.' Australian Financial Review, Best Books of 2015 'Vital, vivid stories by a master storyteller.' Joan London, Age/Sydney Morning Herald, Best Books of 2015 'A Few Days in the Country continues [Harrower's] remarkable literary rejuvenation.' Australian, Best Books of 2015 'Full of wry observations, heartbreaks so vivid they bend time, and a portrait of Sydney from the time the stories were written.' John Freeman, Australian, Best Books of 2015 'Fresh, vibrant writing.' Charlotte Wood, Australian, Best Books of 2015 'A delicious and too fast completed immersion into her world of psychological manipulation and closely observed social mores. [Harrower] has an unfailing ear for the meaning beneath human transactions and I adore the ways she wrestles a sentence. (Please write more, Elizabeth!)' Ramona Koval, Australian, Best Books of 2015 'Harrower's writing is close, meticulous and cross-stitched with careful thought.' New Zealand Herald 'The short story, with its tight formal constraints, proves to be a fruitful medium for Harrower's Gothic sensibilities...Artful short-form fiction best for Harrower's dedicated fans.' Kirkus
