As Clara strives to fulfil her vocation as a writer, and as she struggles in later years with the cumulative constraints of an unhappy marriage, her imagination is strangely haunted by a life that might have been.
Tracing Clara’s story from her adolescence to her experience of motherhood, and then through to a pivotal bid for freedom, Two Hours is an exceptional novel. Witty, perceptive, and profoundly humane, this is the work of a writer at the height of her powers.
Navigating the extreme gap between a woman’s life and the one she imagined for herself, the writer’s third novel is concise, rigorous and heartbreaking
full reviewJohn Self - the Observer
Alba Arikha takes us magically into the very heart of a woman’s experiences—her loves, her art, her fears, and that brief, ecstatic moment that has watermarked her entire life.
Edmund White
Arikha’s Major/Minor is in my view a small masterpiece, and with Two Hours I believe she is making something of similar stature.
Rachel Cusk
Out of a seemingly casual array of swift vignettes, fleeting encounters, cityscapes caught on the fly, and sudden, bright shocks of emotion, Alba Arikha has constructed a radiant story of loss and love, entrapment and freedom, and the strange patterns of fate and desire that shape our lives. Every piece of her mosaic shimmers with acute observation, and the whole comes together to form a powerfully singular account of the universal struggle to live a life of integrity and meaning. It is a rare and fine accomplishment.
James Lasdun
On plonge dans le bain brûlant de la vie amoureuse d'une femme, depuis son premier coup de foudre, jusqu'à son mariage, sans jamais lâcher des mains ce livre où chaque lectrice peut se dire: 'c'est exactement comme cela que j'ai vécu, aimé, souffert ...'
Anne Berest - author of La carte postale
Fascinating and beautifully written
full reviewAshley Parker, Morning Meeting - Air Mail podcast
A must read: gripping, painful and full of humanity and charm - I truly loved it.
Gerry Fox, filmmaker and artist
A beautiful book. So haunting and alive, a real achievement.
George Prochnik - author of The impossible exile: Stefan Zweig at the end of the world
A beautifully written, lyrical and unflinching account of a woman’s life, from teenage love to maturity and motherhood.
Vesna Goldsworthy
Arikha inhabits Clara with such emotional authenticity, that when she makes her final bid for freedom you’ll want to hold her hand and run.
full reviewSally Morris - Daily Mail
What we're reading: writers and readers on the books they enjoyed
full reviewAlba Arikha