"I think this quietly ambitious and beautifully achieved novel is one of the most convincing historical novels I have ever read. [Annabel] Lyon makes her reader avid for every detail of this strange world, whether domestic or medical or military, and she has steeped herself in the thinking of the time. She makes her characters entirely solid and real, while respecting their otherness, the distance between us. That is what characterized Mary Renault's novels, and I think that she would have deeply admired this book.... And I thought that she chose to end the story at precisely the right point. Part of me said 'please let there be more,' but at the same time I recognize the job is done. Throughout, I think her judgment is sound and true, and the reader trusts her voice from the first paragraph."—Hilary Mantel