"Perfectly controlled, superbly written –
Waterland is original, compelling and narration of the highest order." –
The Guardian (U.K.)
"Swift spins a tale of empire-building, land reclamation, brewers and sluice-minders, bewhiskered Victorian patriarchs, insane and visionary relicts.... I can't remember when I read a book of such strange, insidious, unsettling power with a more startling cast of characters." –
Books and Bookmen (U.K.)
"Teems with energy, fertility, violence, madness – demonstrates the irrepressible, wide-ranging talent of this young British writer." –
Washington Post Book World "A formidably intelligent book – animated by an impressive, angry pity at what human creatures are capable of doing to one another in the name of love and need.... The most powerful novel I have read for some time." –
The New York Review of Books "
Waterland appropriates the Fens as
Moby Dick did whaling or
Wuthering Heights the moors – a beautiful, serious, and intelligent novel, admirably ambitious and original." –
The Observer (U.K.)
"Rich, ingenious, inspired." –
The New York Times
