A beautifully-written memoir that skillfully balances a graceful guide through Libya's recent history with the author's dogged quest to find his father'
Barack Obama Among the best of the year's writing... This book is his masterful ink-stained resistance
The Sunday Times
A haunting and terrifying story, told with courage, anger, dignity and unswerving determination
Blake Morrison ... Read more
Guardian Books of the Year
For Matar, hope depends on individuals and families standing by cherished values
Jonathan Benthall
Times Literary Supplement Books of the Year
The intelligence and grace of Matar's writing is fuelled by a fierce and valid rage
Rupert Thomson
Observer Books of the Year
The Return is the self portrait of a haunting, a kind of political ghost story - made more unbearable by the beauty of its prose
Daily Telegraph Books of the Year
A masterpiece . . . Its concision and reserve only heighten the power of a gripping and agonising story
Alan Hollinghurst
Guardian Books of the Year
Is it a sign, or a consequence, of this dreadful year that the best books displayed stern lucidity in the face of darkness and death? Hisham Matar's search for his disappeared father in The Return (note how badly British politicians come out of it)
Julian Barnes
Guardian Books of the Year
A desolating and powerful account of his son's search for his father, in life and death
Hilary Mantel
New Statesman Books of the Year
The Return moved me to tears and taught me about love and home
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Guardian Books of the Year
Breathtaking memoir... an elegy by a son who, through his eloquence, defies the men who wanted to erase his father and gifts him with a kind of immortality
Washington Post 10 Best Books of 2016
Mr. Matar is not a wonderful writer because his father disappeared or because his homeland is a mess: he is a brilliant narrative architect and prose stylist, his pared-down approach and measured pace a striking complement to the emotional tumult of his material . . . This book is an extraordinary gift for us all
Wall Street Journal
I have always admired Matar's tender and compassionate but equally strong and compelling voice
Elif Shafak A moving, unflinching memoir of a family torn apart by the savage realities of today's middle east
Kazuo Ishiguro [A] profound work of witnessing and grief... leaves a deep emotional imprint
Newsday
An astonishing political thriller
Mail on Sunday
Exquisite
Observer
Beautifully written
Economist
A masterful memoir, a searing meditation on loss, exile, grief, guilt, belonging and, above all, family.
Book of the Week, Sunday Times
A tale of mighty love, loyalty and courage
Spectator
Marvellously well-handled memoir
Evening Standard
[An] extraordinary memoir
Financial Times Stands comparison with the best literature of exile
Prospect
A truly remarkable book
Daily Telegraph
A profound and powerful meditation on love, loss and exile
Sunday Express
One of the essential books of our times
Adam Foulds A magnificent memoir of exile and loss
Rawi Hage Tremendously powerful
Nadeem Aslam A treasure for the ages
Peter Carey Bristles with arresting wisdom
Jeremy Paxman Wise and agonizing and thrilling to read
Zadie Smith A total work of art. It reminded me of Solzhenitsyn. It is of the same importance. I love it.
James Rebanks It is likely to become a classic.
Colm Toibin What a brilliant book. The Return reads as easily as a thriller, but is a story that will stick; a person is lost but gravity and resonance remain
Hilary Mantel Show Less