{"product_id":"here-we-are-3","title":"Here We Are","description":"It is Brighton, 1959, and the theatre at the end of the pier is having its best summer season in years. Ronnie, a brilliant young magician, and Evie, his dazzling assistant, are top of the bill, drawing audiences each night. Meanwhile, Jack – Jack Robinson, as in ‘before you can say’ – is everyone’s favourite compère, a born entertainer, holding the whole show together.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e As the summer progresses, the off-stage drama between the three begins to overshadow their theatrical success, and events unfold which will have lasting consequences for all their futures.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Rich, comic, alive and subtly devastating, \u003ci\u003eHere We Are \u003c\/i\u003eis a masterly piece of literary magicianship which pulls back the curtain on the human condition.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e '\u003cb\u003eOne to watch for 2020\u003c\/b\u003e' according to:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Sunday Times\u003cbr\u003e The Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Daily Telegraph\u003cbr\u003e The Guardian\u003cbr\u003e Financial Times\u003cbr\u003e Evening Standard\u003cbr\u003e The Scotsman\u003cbr\u003e The Irish Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 'He tells simple, truthful stories about what feel like real people. \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHere We Are \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eis a welcome addition to a proud legacy.' \u003cb\u003eThe Big Issue\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The variety of voices and its historical and emotional reach are so finely entwined, it is as perfect and smooth as an egg. Passages leap out all the time, demanding to be reread, or committed to memory... It is perhaps too simple to say that Swift creates a form of fictional magic, but what he can do with a page is out of the ordinary, far beyond most mortals’ ken.' \u003cb\u003eRosemary Goring,\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Herald\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e'Here We Are\u003c\/i\u003e is a subtle portrait of a vanished world, with moving passages about the problems of wartime evacuees returning to impoverished London life after the wonders of the countryside.' \u003cb\u003eThe Independent\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ‘In Here We Are, Swift does not just dwell on the pivotal moments of our lives, but traces their shockwaves both forward and back. Moving seamlessly from pre-war to post, from the events of one illusory, youthful summer to the present, we are given candid access to the innermost reflections of three people who loved and betrayed each other. The end result is the stuff of life, an enduring mystery that Ronnie, Evie, Jack - that we all - must live with. I thought it was wonderful.’ \u003cb\u003eJoseph Knox, author of \u003ci\u003eSirens\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e‘As with all his books, it’s the moments of quiet, undramatic poignancy that stay with you’\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cb\u003eSunday Express\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e‘a quietly, devastating, magical novel’\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cb\u003eTelegraph\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e‘With a wizardry of his own, Swift conjures up an about-to-disappear little world and turns it into something of wider resonance’\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cb\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ‘We are propelled into something extraordinary…Swift’s closing account of a mundane world momentarily pierced by a shaft of numinous mystery is magnificent’ \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e ‘Graham Swift has perfected a distinctive style…his beautiful new novel \u003ci\u003eHere We Are…\u003c\/i\u003eis a work of magic: neither trick nor illusion, but a flash of truth’ \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e ‘Swift captures the tragicomedy of life’ \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e ‘\u003ci\u003eHere We Are \u003c\/i\u003eis a paragon of the magic of compressed narration…Once again, Swift has demonstrated wizardry in his ability to conjure magic out of ordinary lives' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNPR\u003c\/i\u003e USA\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ‘\u003cbr\u003e ‘“Here we are.” How easily those three small words can vanish in expected niceties—and how loaded they can be with bewilderment at the inexorable ‘‘tilt of the world’’. Graham Swift conjures them all, and more, in this short, word-perfect novel' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSydney Morning Herald\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ‘Graham Swift is the quiet master of fiction' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Age\u003c\/i\u003e, Melbourne\u003cbr\u003e  \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ‘An ethereal foray into the vanishing world of the magician…beautiful, breath-taking and heart-wrenching' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAustralian Women’s Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e ‘In 2016 with his book \u003ci\u003eMothering Sunday\u003c\/i\u003e Graham Swift reached a high plateau of storytelling art...Graham Swift‘s new novel \u003ci\u003eHere We Are\u003c\/i\u003e is on the same high plateau as \u003ci\u003eMothering Sunday\u003c\/i\u003e' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSüddeutsche Zeitung, \u003c\/i\u003eGermany\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e ‘The beauty of Graham Swift‘s books is that he gives you what you want without your knowing that you wanted it. How does he achieve this magical feat? It remains his secret. What a magician' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTagesspiegel, \u003c\/i\u003eGermany\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e ‘Swift is a master of the nuance and the hint, of what remains unsaid. In this respect a novel about magic and illusion seems exactly the right terrain for him...Once again he proves that he is one of the great conjurers of contemporary literature' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWiener Zeitung\u003c\/i\u003e, Austria\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e ‘Swift employs an unadorned but intense, musical prose that bathes the events described in an elusive gleam…Not for the first time Graham Swift captures the magic and mystery of ‘ordinary’ lives' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHet Parool\u003c\/i\u003e, Netherlands\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e ‘The author knows, as always, how to render the human condition with a light touch… To catch the magic of life in words: an undertaking Graham Swift has mastered like no one else' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDe Telegraaf\u003c\/i\u003e, Belgium\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e ‘Swift doesn’t write, he whispers. His work is characterised by stories of ordinary life that, thanks to his mediation, always reveal a universal dimension…\u003ci\u003eHere We Are\u003c\/i\u003e is yet more proof of his incredible soft-voiced technique…a perfect example of Swift’s ability to touch the hidden poetry in every human being'\u003cb\u003e \u003ci\u003eCorriere della Sera\u003c\/i\u003e, Italy\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e It is one of those wonderful tales that one could have read fifty years ago or discovered half a century hence with the same delight, one of those novels of timeless beauty—thanks to the art of Graham Swift, who has no equal in evoking the atmosphere of an era while probing human psychology with irony and tenderness' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eL’Express\u003c\/i\u003e, France\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for Mothering Sunday:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 'Bathed in light; and even when tragedy strikes, it blazes irresistibly… Swift’s small fiction feels like a masterpiece’ \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eGuardian\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  ‘Alive with sensuousness and sensuality … wonderfully accomplished, it is an achievement’ \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ‘From start to finish Swift’s is a novel of stylish brilliance and quiet narrative verve. The archly modulated, precise prose (a hybrid of Henry Green and Kazuo Ishiguro) is a glory to read. Now 66,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Swift is a writer at the very top of his game’ \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eEvening Standard\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ‘\u003ci\u003eMothering Sunday \u003c\/i\u003eis a powerful, philosophical and exquisitely observed novel about the lives we lead, and the parallel lives – the parallel stories – we can never know … It may just be Swift’s best novel yet’ \u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eObserver\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  ","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57317392351614,"sku":"NW9781471188930","price":12.47,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9781471188930.jpg?v=1778721905","url":"https:\/\/mediaplace.com\/products\/here-we-are-3","provider":"MediaPlace","version":"1.0","type":"link"}