Little Hands Clapping

Disturbing and delightful. * * The Telegraph * * A macabre, brilliant and terrifying novel. Good strong stuff. -- Michael Holroyd * * Guardian * * Genius ... A sublime, brilliant novel. * * The Scotsman * * A remarkable success. * * The Spectator * * While never losing sight of the monstrousness that ensnares his characters, Rhodes remains gloriously, mordantly funny. * * The Independent * * After reading Rhodes's book, many little hands should be clapping very loudly indeed. * * The Observer * * An amusing fable about thwarted altruism and good intentions gone askew. It should please cynical idealists and idealistic cynics alike. * * Financial Times * * Just trust us on this one... he really is one of the most inventive authors around. ***** * * HEAT * * Reading it is like taking a deep breath into the lungs of your imagination. * * Scotland on Sunday * * The sense that this is a fairy story, with all the implications of a moral message and an investigation of human nature that come with it, runs through the book and is heightened by its title . . . His gentle yet clever telling of the monstrous events at the museum finds humanity in the horror and makes his characters' unpleasant antics seem almost whimsical . . . After reading Rhodes's book, many little hands should be clapping very loudly indeed. -- Alice Fisher * * OBSERVER * * Combining heady romance, nihilism and despair, human failings, and a fair amount of spider munching, this is a unique, sparkling story. Dan Rhodes is a writer to treasure. * * LIST * * Cleverly interweaves a lovers' story with the dark, disturbing life of an old caretaker. -- Christina Koning * * Times * * As funny as it is macabre. * * Sunday Herald * * This is the kind of deliciously wicked tale that looks simple on the surface, but which covers hidden depths. A small masterpiece. -- Lesley MacDowall * * Herald * * A spooky, brilliant read from a magical storyteller. * * Heat * * This dark and curious fable is leavened by preposterous imagination and an airy wit. You may well, embarrassingly, laugh aloud. * * Independent on Sunday * *

Dan Rhodes was born in 1972. He is the author of five other books: Anthropology, Don't Tell Me the Truth About Love, Timoleon Vieta Come Home, Gold and, writing as Danuta de Rhodes, The Little White Car. In 2003 he was named by Granta magazine as one of their Twenty Best of Young British Novelists and in 2010 by the Daily Telegraph as one of their Best British Novelists Under Forty. He is the winner of many awards including the Author's Club First Novel Award and the E.M. Forster Award. He lives in Derbyshire.