The Descendants

Utterly original and absolutely compelling... a fantastic first novel

Geoff Dyer

Hemmings' quirkily assured touch, her grasp of the absurd and the lush Hawaiian setting ensures this novel's balance between heartbreak and hilarity

Marie Claire

Full of dark humour and astute observations, this is a deftly written rumination on the meaning of family and ancestry

Big Issue

A darkly funny debut... a sharp story of emotional and sexual awakening in idyllic Hawaii

Metro

Gripping and funny... A brave and intelligent novel

Sunday Telegraph

Shockingly irreverent and funny while exerting that all-important emotional tug... A well-plotted, unexpectedly twisting saga

Guardian

Kaui Hart Hemmings' assured touch and her fine grasp of the absurd ensures that this novel steers a deliciously scenic route between heartbreak and hilarity

Daily Mail

An assured and subtle writer. The islands rise lush and untamed in the background

Observer

A panoramic tragicomedy about the transience of life...a sensitive, unsentimental vision that is often peppered with comic barbs...treads the fragile thread between heartbreak and humour, announcing Kaui Hart Hemmings as a writer of prodigious gifts

Time Out

The subject matter may be heated but Hemmings avoids schmaltz at every turn. Even Joanie's death-bed scene is flooded with well-judged comedy. An engaging comic debut about a middle-aged man's attempts to navigate a far from scenic route home

Emma Hagestadt, Independent

Terrific debut… a closely observed study of human frailty

Mail on Sunday

An unsentimental tragicomedy, whose somewhat hopeless male protagonist is so believable that it's a surprise to discover his creator is young, female and only on her first novel

Dazed and Confused