SANDY BALFOUR

All material on this site © Sandy Balfour 2010

Author photo © Linda Nylind. No use without permission

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Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose (8)

“Pretty Girl” was first published in 2003. It’s a story of belonging and exile, mostly, but also a love story about me and my girlfriend. Of course I couldn’t come right out and say that, so I disguised it as a story about crosswords, but you’ll enjoy this book most if you’ve recently fallen in love.

 It is now available in paperback.

Reviews:

"Balfour's book is in its own category: autobiographical sketches dropped into a glass of champagne and stirred well. It fizzes back and forth between experience and crosswords and  manages to convince us they are akin."

The New York Times

"An extraordinary memoir...A mesh of journeys and destinations, politics and romance, it touches what is beyond words."

The Times

"A little gem...The book adds up to more than the sum of its parts and lingers in the memory long after the final page."

The Sunday Telegraph

"Charming, knowledgeable and gripping."

The Guardian

"A strange and wonderful book"

The Independent on Sunday

"A formidably clever book by a man who knows his way around the world." Daily Mail

"A highly thoughtful and deeply romantic tale."

Times Literary Supplement

"You close the book feeling you have encountered a modest man of humour, compassion and common sense, who wears his wisdom lightly." The Economist

"In prose as delicate and as humorous as the clues guiding his text, Balfour has written a poignant memoir and demonstrates how language can unlock one's true identity."

The Literary Review

It is available in all good bookshops and on Amazon.