“A playful book, full of fun and games. There is so much pleasure to be had from Hamilton-Paterson's delight in language and wicked way with unreliable narrators. . . . The book's effect is achieved almost entirely through the comic magnetism of a single character.”

— The Times Literary Supplement

“A wonderfully rich alloy of sub-Wildean witticisms and nonsense, Cooking with Fernet Branca had me laughing out loud and uproariously.”

— Ian Thomson, Sunday Telegraph

“A skillful, highly original writer. . . . The elegant language, witty asides and vivid observations are memorable.”

— The Literary Review

“I love his elegant and intensely evocative style: strangeness lifts off his pages like a rare perfume.”

— J.G. Ballard

“I'm bowled over by the sheer imaginative brilliance of the man.”

— Barry Humphries

“A work of comic genius.”

— The Independent