'Murray will present its biggest marketing and publicity campaign for what it calls "the most extraordinary novel of 2006"' -- Publishing News 20060519 'The novel has many attractions including its nicely twisted narrator and some of that gothic mystery appeal that helped to make The Shadow of the Wind such a hit.' -- The Bookseller, Benedicte Page, Ones to watch 20060602 'An absolute treat from start to finish.' -- The Bookseller: Rodney Troubridge 20060512 'Cox evokes the Victorian era effortlessly.' -- The Bookseller: Liz Taylor 20060512 'Spellbinding Victorian mystery ...Dark atmospheric storytelling with wicked twists and turns' -- Good Housekeeping 20060512 'An enthralling journey into the depths of Victorian London and the psyche of a man obsessed, Michael Cox's The Meaning of Night will have you hooked from [the] stunning opening line to the thrilling final revelation' -- InStyle 20060512 'Cox creates a strong sense of place, a complex narrative full of unexpectedly wicked twists, and a well-drawn cast of supporting characters. His language is mesmerizing, and his themes of betrayal, revenge, social stratification, sexual repression, and moral hypocrisy echo those of the great 19th-century novelists. Written in the tradition of Michel Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White and Sarah Waters's Fingersmith, Cox's masterpiece is highly recommended for all fiction collections' -- Library Journal 20060701 'Resonant with echoes of Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens, Cox's richly imagined thriller features an unreliable narrator, Edward Glyver, who opens his chilling 'confession'; with a cold-blooded account of an anonymous murder that he commits one night on the streets of l854 London...Cox's tale abounds with startling surprises that are made credible by its scrupulously researched background and details of everyday Victorian life. Its exemplary blend of intrigue, history and romance mark a stand-out literary debut' -- Publishers Weekly 20060801 'A remarkably entertaining treat which begs comparison with the world of Patricia Highsmith' -- Kirkus 20061001 'The pages teem with wit and erudition and the plot thickens like a good minestrone soup ... Thrilling' -- Courier Mail 20060722 'It has been hard to ignore the proliferation of pseudo-Victorian novels following the success of Sarah Waters. Many have been of indifferent quality, but Michael Cox's debut is an excellent addition to the genre. It is a tale of obsession, love and revenge, played out amid London's swirling smog ... Glyver is an outstanding creation ... Cox lovingly recreates the atmosphere of the period, from grand dinner parties to assignation with ladies of the night ... Yet he never allows period detail to swamp the human drama at the novel's heart' -- Daily Mail 20060722 'A novel of fate and free will, forensic detection and blind love, crime and its justifications. The Atmosphere crackles, but beneath al;l is a sly sense of humour. The plotting is second to non -- a finely tuned yet extravagantly complex piece of clockwork' -- Evening Standard 20060722 'An unadulterated pleasure... In prose as flamboyant as a bespoke smoking jacket, Cox's metropolis comes to life, teeming with hearty whores and weasily clerks... Cox skilfully brings a modern sensibility to his 19th-century opus...Cox's epic is as thrilling as a Hansom cab chase and as guilty a pleasure as a nocturnal turn at a gentleman's "introducing house"' -- Independent on Sunday 20060722 'Impressively fluent first novel' -- Sunday Telegraph 20060722 'Like Charles Palliser, Michel Faber and Sarah Waters, Cox is making the Victorian era a switchback ride for the reader's mind... a rich and complicated tale ... a journey into darkness' -- Independent 20060722 'Unusual and remarkable... Key to the convincing nature of this confession is Cox's grasp of the minutiae of the times and the language of the period, so that the reader at times forgets this isn't a contemporary of Dickens' -- South China Sunday Morning Post 20060722 'A brooding, sinister work. Bedecked in all the literary adornments of the period, it seeps with questions about the nature of good and evil, fate, inheritance, love and, above all, faith' -- Fiona Atherton, Scotsman 20060722