"At its finest,
Clear is a love letter to the scorching power of language, a power that Davies has long understood. She writes with amazing economy: in a few words she can summon worlds... Davies is a writer of immense talent and deep humanity, capable of balancing devastating audacity with equally devastating restraint."
–The Guardian "There is great pleasure to be found of Davies's clear and calm prose, her wry asides and deep love of language, and in the book's quiet optimism. It is a slim, masterfully carved gem of a story that you won't easily forget: slip it into your pocket."
–Evening Standard "Davies' characteristically nimble evocation of place is in evidence throughout... Amid the barbarity of mass evictions, with all their modern resonances, Davies ultimately offers us a story that is hopeful and humane."
–Irish Times "A lucid and stylish prose writer, Davies is excellent at revealing characters through the language they use and through the gestures and tonal shifts that betray their weaknesses, their prejudices and hollow sentiments... what
Clear asks of us in its final pages is a leap of faith more usual in fables and fairy tales - there is also something gratifying in the suggestion, however unlikely, that love, even love of the most improbable kind, can still blossom in a world run by men like Lowrie and Strachan."
–Times Literary Supplement "Another epic in miniature. Davies manages to pack in more drama and nuance into 160 pages than other authors manage in novels twice that length."
–The Spectator "Her own language is a marvel of eloquent restraint."
–The Observer "Wonderfully atmospheric writing."
–Sunday Times "Painterly...Her grasp of historical mood rarely falters, and each scene is set with minimal description, leaving space for the reader's imagination ...
Clear is a memorable and beautifully told tale"
–Scottish Herald "[A] gripping novel from Welsh novelist Carys Davis,
Clear...feels a bit like a thriller set against a history lesson rendered fantastically vivid...raising questions of belonging, ownership, and how we forge the bonds between people and place that are really durable."
–Vogue "[Davies] writes epics in miniature...a tender, humane book."
–Times (London)
