From Man Booker contenders to magical short-story colelctions, Sunday Times chief fiction reviewer Peter Kemp picked the writers who had gripped him most in 2013. He writes...

Buckley is the author of The Rough Guide to Tuscany and Umbria, and the expertise he needed for that is put to virtuoso use in this kaleidoscopic novel. From a multitude of angles – history, geography, present and past residents, flora, fauna, festivals – a small Tuscan town is brought to teeming, vivid life. With a central storyline about an English expat painter, it’s as exhilarating as an Italian holiday.