"Blythe transmits dreams of the past and fantasies of the present with a creamy, conscious grace. His stories are compelling, atmospheric, as rich in detail as the dark cluttered parlours of aunts. This is seductive writing..."

The Sunday Times

"His stories are undeniably full of charm. Their exhuberant enjoyment of the same solid world their Blythe's documentary writings inhabit is infectious ...And at certain full, packed moments ...not uncommon in it's continually arresting collection ...Blythe's `mere' telling of stories starts to look as subtle in it's particular brand of quiet self­consciousness as many more clever self­reflective fictions manage to be:'

Times Literary Supplement