Press
The Observer: To Rest Our Minds & Bodies
'The book...gradually flowers into something extraordinary: a feminist statement of mental unravelling, which is also a plea for the life of the mind. This is marvellously realised as the novel unfolds into a study of interiority and narrative, both an embrace of and a resistance against nihilism. Armstrong has created a form away from such debasing tropes and genres as “sad girl” lit... Armstrong’s work seems both new and utterly timeless.'
The Guardian: To Rest Our Minds & Bodies
'Armstrong’s voice is by turns jejune, candid and ludic, but always aware of its effects and its commitment to emotional truth...It announces Armstrong as a bright and singular voice in literary fiction.'
The Telegraph: To Rest Our Minds & Bodies:
‘It’s rare to encounter so purely candid and redolent a portrait of a life... The novel inspires something close to exaltation...To Rest Our Minds and Bodies is a fraught chamber piece of emotional intensity: an age-old story – of the highs and lows of first love, and of a young person finding their place in the world – told in a way that feels unsettling, exciting and very fresh.’
The Irish Times: To Rest Our Minds & Bodies
‘There's a piercing brightness in every sentence, a flash of insight...To Rest Our Minds & Bodies is luminous, unsettling and emotionally honest.'
The Times: To Rest Our Minds & Bodies
Review 31: To Rest Our Minds & Bodies
‘The book brilliantly focuses on what it means to simulate emotions vs. to feel emotions... The story hinges on a first love–come–unrequited romantic experience...This asymmetrical power dynamic, rooted in devotion, sets the novel on a path of relational uncertainty, emotional restraint, and an ongoing tension between mechanical detachment and human vulnerability.’
The Times: 'What we're reading this week'
The Week: To Rest Our Minds & Bodies 'Book of the Week'
The Morning Star: To Rest Our Minds & Bodies
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