“A jewel of a novel . . . Saturated with images and metaphors that recur like melodies . . . Swift’s brief, magical tale demonstrates one more brilliant example of his talent for pulling universal themes out of the hats of ordinary lives.”—Publishers Weekly (starred)

“Deeply moving . . . [Written] in the crisp, eloquently understated prose that has been a hallmark of Swift’s award-winning career.”—Bill Ott, Booklist (starred)

“A marvellous tale of post-war love and magic . . . Swift brings his old lyricism to a new landscape . . . Sensuous . . . A delight.”—Nikhil Krishnan, Daily Telegraph

“Some writers are like old friends—you can lose touch with their work and pick up right where you left off . . . Brilliant . . . This is a beautiful, gentle, intricate novella, the kind of book that stays with you despite not appearing to do anything particularly new or special. In fact, perhaps that’s what makes it so very good: Here We Are smuggles within the pages of a seemingly commonplace tale depths of emotion and narrative complexity that take the breath away.”—Alex Preston, The Observer

“A magical piece of writing: the work of a novelist on scintillating form . . . As enthralling as anything that will be published this year . . . The book wonderfully captures the experience of evacuation during the second world war. It’s also a profoundly important story to tell in its own right . . . I don’t know quite how Swift does it.”—Barney Norris, The Guardian

“The book’s power comes precisely from the fact that it performs its magic in front of your eyes, leaving nowhere to hide . . . You wonder how he does it.”—Oliver Hurst, Financial Times

“A haunting read . . . Pitch-perfect . . . The compactly brilliant Mothering Sunday watched belated aftereffects of the First World War painfully working themselves out in 1924. A kind of companion piece, Here We Are watches consequences of the Second World War still cruelly making their presence felt . . . With a wizardry of his own, Swift conjures up an about-to-disappear little world and turns it into something of wider resonance.”—Peter Kemp, The Sunday Times

“Here We Are is a subtle portrait of a vanished world . . . Moving.”—Martin Chilton, The Independent

“Master novelist Swift invites readers to see parallels between the tricks he is pulling and the magic act that is the ostensible subject of his novel. Or is it? As Swift writes of a magician and the assistant to whom he is betrothed, ‘The act had become a fluid phenomenon, yet full of a thrilling tension. You never knew what might happen next. This in itself became part of the attraction.’”—Kirkus Reviews

“Graham Swift is one of Britain’s finest and most understated writers . . . None of his earlier books strays as deeply into the farther realms of the extraordinary as this latest work . . . Here We Are is not a fat novel, but it is a richly rewarding one, every line playing its part. 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 . . . Swift gives a lesson in sleight of hand, artistic control and the gear-changes involved in the slow and startling reveal . . . 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.”—Rosemary Goring, The Herald (Scotland)

“Swift has been turning out literature of wit, intelligence and insight for a remarkable 40 years [and] has never lost his footing . . . Here We Are is a welcome addition to a proud legacy.”—Jane Graham, Big Issue

“A quietly devastating, magical novel . . . Swift’s prose is restrained but emotionally charged . . . Mothering Sunday was quite possibly the loveliest book I’ve ever read. Here We Are is in elegiac mode once more.”—Francesca Carington, The Telegraph

“Graham Swift has never written anything that wasn’t interesting and pleasing. He is powerful in an always understated way.”—Alan Massie, The Scotsman