D.M. Thomas Online

NOVELS

BIRTHSTONE
'Fantasy as Freud envisaged it, powerful enough to counter reality, working like free assocation and allowing the unconscious to take over.' --London Review of Books

THE FLUTE-PLAYER
'One of the most skilful and imaginative pieces of fiction I have read in years… Mr Thomas has written a tremendously moving book dedicated to Mandelstam, Pasternak, Akhmatova and Tsvetaeva, a fantasy based sometimes loosely, sometimes very directly, on their lives and works… the story of the survival of poetry itself.' -Alex de Jonge, The Spectator

THE WHITE HOTEL
'A remarkable and original novel… there is no novel to my knowledge which resembles this in technique or ideas. It stands alone.' -Graham Greene
'I quickly came to feel that I had found that book, that mythical book, that would explain us to ourselves.' -Leslie Epstein, New York Times
'A novel of blazing imaginative and intellectual force' -Salman Rushdie, The Times

THE RUSSIAN NIGHTS QUINTET…

ARARAT
'A deep and serious exploration of the poetic impulse and its relation to the historical world… Confirms Thomas' creative fluency and force, indeed his status as one of our best contemporary novelists.' -Malcolm Bradbury, Vogue

SWALLOW
'Like its namesake, possesses a darting shifting pattern in which identities flash and merge… Entrancing.' -Los Angeles Times

SPHINX
'As few other Western writers even attempt to do, Thomas has found a way to blend the large and terrible events of contemporary history into the emotions and fantasies of his characters… A work of substantial as well as formal artistry.' --Richard Eder, Los Angeles Times

SUMMIT
'Writes like a rumbustious dream… a dragon's breakfast of hilarity, horror and satirical fantasy' --Guardian

LYING TOGETHER
'Consistently full of surprises, Lying Together is a novel within a novel, a brilliant blend of lies and truths, imaginative fantasies, and current events. It is a satire with a wicked sense of humor, a touch of poetry, and more than a dash of haute porn.' -San Diego Tribune

FLYING IN TO LOVE
'The principals step onto the bright Dallas stage as if for the first time. There is a sense of excitement one would not have thought possible in the telling of such an old tale… it succeeds brilliantly in illuminating the no man's land of pain between sleeping and waking.' --Sunday Telegraph

PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION
'Thomas has once again brilliantly combined the poetry of horror and eroticism, intermingling images of Munch with echoes of Kafka to produce a devastating piece of work.' -Time Out

EATING PAVLOVA
'Thomas has borrowed bits and pieces from the life and letters of Freud, and turned them into something new, powerfully erotic and unmistakeably Thomasine… Out of the crooked DIY shop of the human id and ego, no straight carpentry ever came. But, as Freud discovered, fascinating and influential and entertaining matter can grow out of it, even if it is sometimes fiction.' --TheTimes (London)
'An extraordinary novel… harrowing, funny and outrageous. With elegant wit, Thomas escorts it from nightmare into high tragic compassion. This is fiercely honest art.' --New York Times

LADY WITH A LAPTOP
'Marvellous… This bitingly satirical and wickedly bawdy new novel questions the tenuous lines between fact and fiction, the very nature of artifice.' -San Francisco Chronicle
'A wonderfully funny send up of life in the New Age… marvellous reading. Highly recommended.' --Library Journal

CHARLOTTE
'The irresistibly melodramatic plot of D.M.Thomas's novel had me completely bewitched.' --Val Hennessy, Daily Mail
'I hurtled on, gripped by the simplest desire any reader ever has. I wanted to find out what happened.' -New Statesman

BIOGRAPHY

MEMORIES AND HALLUCINATIONS
'An exceptional exploration of the sources of his artistic inspiration.' -San Francisco Chronicle
'A powerful and compulsive guide to the murky labyrinths of a writer's psyche… an extraordinary self-lacerating confession that not only explains his books but also explores the seething morass of a writer's subconscious inspiration.' - Sunday Express

ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN, a century in his life
'This is not a book about Alexander Solzhenitsyn. It is the book… Reads like a great Russian novel… It is difficult to think of a literary biography that has impressed me more.' --A.N.Wilson, Literary Review
'An epic of love and hate… It is a story with all the elements of a Russian novel-passion, betrayal, KGB intrigue-set against an epic backdrop of twentieth century Russian history.' -New York Times

Author's comment: 'Thanks for excluding all the reviews describing my work as PORNOGRAPHIC, NASTY, OBSESSED WITH SEX AND VIOLENCE, SLEAZY, DISGUSTING, MISOGYNISTIC, FILTHY…'

Webmistress: 'Now you're just trying to tempt people to read your books!'

	POETRY 'There aren't many poets in England as good as Thomas' -Guardian 'Thomas's achievement is to give us a clear if uncomfortable picture of both the loving and the brutalising fantasies on which our hearts continue to feed.' -TLS 'He is a first-rate poet… a clear and sensuously impressive writer' -Gavin Ewart AS TRANSLATOR OF AKHMATOVA'S POETRY 'A masterly achievement… Thomas has profound reverence and affection for the original.' --John Bayley 'These are among the best, the most authoritative, of all recent translations from the Russian.' -Martin Seymour-Smith AND OF PUSHKIN 'D.M.Thomas makes this astounding poet available to us as if for the first time. The Bronze Horseman is the most exciting and inspiring volume to cross my desk since The White Hotel.' --Erica Jong

NOVELS BIRTHSTONE 'Fantasy as Freud envisaged it, powerful enough to counter reality, working like free assocation and allowing the unconscious to take over.' --London Review of Books THE FLUTE-PLAYER 'One of the most skilful and imaginative pieces of fiction I have read in years… Mr Thomas has written a tremendously moving book dedicated to Mandelstam, Pasternak, Akhmatova and Tsvetaeva, a fantasy based sometimes loosely, sometimes very directly, on their lives and works… the story of the survival of poetry itself.' -Alex de Jonge, The Spectator THE WHITE HOTEL 'A remarkable and original novel… there is no novel to my knowledge which resembles this in technique or ideas. It stands alone.' -Graham Greene 'I quickly came to feel that I had found that book, that mythical book, that would explain us to ourselves.' -Leslie Epstein, New York Times 'A novel of blazing imaginative and intellectual force' -Salman Rushdie, The Times THE RUSSIAN NIGHTS QUINTET… ARARAT 'A deep and serious exploration of the poetic impulse and its relation to the historical world… Confirms Thomas' creative fluency and force, indeed his status as one of our best contemporary novelists.' -Malcolm Bradbury, Vogue SWALLOW 'Like its namesake, possesses a darting shifting pattern in which identities flash and merge… Entrancing.' -Los Angeles Times SPHINX 'As few other Western writers even attempt to do, Thomas has found a way to blend the large and terrible events of contemporary history into the emotions and fantasies of his characters… A work of substantial as well as formal artistry.' --Richard Eder, Los Angeles Times SUMMIT 'Writes like a rumbustious dream… a dragon's breakfast of hilarity, horror and satirical fantasy' --Guardian LYING TOGETHER 'Consistently full of surprises, Lying Together is a novel within a novel, a brilliant blend of lies and truths, imaginative fantasies, and current events. It is a satire with a wicked sense of humor, a touch of poetry, and more than a dash of haute porn.' -San Diego Tribune FLYING IN TO LOVE 'The principals step onto the bright Dallas stage as if for the first time. There is a sense of excitement one would not have thought possible in the telling of such an old tale… it succeeds brilliantly in illuminating the no man's land of pain between sleeping and waking.' --Sunday Telegraph PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION 'Thomas has once again brilliantly combined the poetry of horror and eroticism, intermingling images of Munch with echoes of Kafka to produce a devastating piece of work.' -Time Out EATING PAVLOVA 'Thomas has borrowed bits and pieces from the life and letters of Freud, and turned them into something new, powerfully erotic and unmistakeably Thomasine… Out of the crooked DIY shop of the human id and ego, no straight carpentry ever came. But, as Freud discovered, fascinating and influential and entertaining matter can grow out of it, even if it is sometimes fiction.' --TheTimes (London) 'An extraordinary novel… harrowing, funny and outrageous. With elegant wit, Thomas escorts it from nightmare into high tragic compassion. This is fiercely honest art.' --New York Times LADY WITH A LAPTOP 'Marvellous… This bitingly satirical and wickedly bawdy new novel questions the tenuous lines between fact and fiction, the very nature of artifice.' -San Francisco Chronicle 'A wonderfully funny send up of life in the New Age… marvellous reading. Highly recommended.' --Library Journal CHARLOTTE 'The irresistibly melodramatic plot of D.M.Thomas's novel had me completely bewitched.' --Val Hennessy, Daily Mail 'I hurtled on, gripped by the simplest desire any reader ever has. I wanted to find out what happened.' -New Statesman BIOGRAPHY MEMORIES AND HALLUCINATIONS 'An exceptional exploration of the sources of his artistic inspiration.' -San Francisco Chronicle 'A powerful and compulsive guide to the murky labyrinths of a writer's psyche… an extraordinary self-lacerating confession that not only explains his books but also explores the seething morass of a writer's subconscious inspiration.' - Sunday Express ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN, a century in his life 'This is not a book about Alexander Solzhenitsyn. It is the book… Reads like a great Russian novel… It is difficult to think of a literary biography that has impressed me more.' --A.N.Wilson, Literary Review 'An epic of love and hate… It is a story with all the elements of a Russian novel-passion, betrayal, KGB intrigue-set against an epic backdrop of twentieth century Russian history.' -New York Times Author's comment: 'Thanks for excluding all the reviews describing my work as PORNOGRAPHIC, NASTY, OBSESSED WITH SEX AND VIOLENCE, SLEAZY, DISGUSTING, MISOGYNISTIC, FILTHY…' Webmistress: 'Now you're just trying to tempt people to read your books!'
publications \|\| forthcoming events \|\| point of departure links \|\| a writer's life \|\| works in progress \|\| some review comments contact \|\| personal D.M. \|\| home