“After his exquisite debut, Snowdrops, Miller has returned to serve up another feast of sumptuous prose. Witty, moving and beautifully observed, it carries you along on a wave of sheer brilliance. This is an exceptional novel and Miller is the real deal.”
“The Faithful Couple is studded with little zingers or evocative phrases that encapsulate something bigger…Miller is such a good writer and intelligent observer that The Faithful Couple is a pleasure to read. A portrait of a male friendship, free from the whiff of trenchfoot or “Iron John” silliness or new man self-consciousness, is a rare thing.”
“Miller crafts his story with precision…some of the novelist’s imagery is startling and disturbing…He is also brilliant on the intersection of class and money…There may be no murder in this novel, but nevertheless it oozes with tension. Patricia Highsmith always wanted to try to write a suspense novel that did not feature a murder. I can safely bet that Highsmith would have admired and loved this book in equal measure.”
“AD Miller’s follow-up to his Booker Prize shortlisted novel Snowdrops is another intelligent, perceptive look at contemporary life, both beautifully written and gently satirical…Miller’s book has some similarities with One Day in that it has carefully observed state-of-the-nation elements and uses hindsight to offer some wry observations on contemporary life. Yet it is a more lyrical book than David Nicholls’s, elegantly sidestepping cliché and melodrama in favour of something truer to everyday life. On the evidence of this and Snowdrops, Miller is a thrilling new talent.”
“Flaunts its insight and complexities, and impresses with its skilled portrayal of two men trying to stay afloat and together through the turbulence of modern life…Miller regales us with striking prose…The Faithful Couple is gripping, affecting and memorable.”
“Two things make Miller’s writing dazzle. One is his glorious perspicacity about people and relationships of all sorts: friendships stained with betrayal and competitiveness, work acquaintanceships and love relationships alike. He’s witty as well as insightful…Miller’s other great strength is the aptness and originality of his metaphors and similes…It was a challenge for Miller to impress as much with his second novel as he did with his first, but it is one to which he has risen with assurance.”
“Subtly gripping and slightly sinister–just as good as Snowdrops, his excellent first novel.”
“Miller is a really fine writer, and this is a really fine book. It reminded me in different parts of Nick Hornby, David Nicholls, Douglas Coupland…But Miller, with all due respect to those mentioned, is a better writer. His prose is lovely: contemplative, controlled, elegant…He has an unerring eye for the quirks and details of what makes up everyday life: the sights and sounds, random memories, the way chance often leads us down unexpected paths, and most importantly, the dynamics of romance and parenthood.”
“An easy, accomplished flair…In addition to the pleasure of introduction to the uncharted world of male friendship there is the pleasure of recognition…The book The Faithful Couple most brings to mind is the bestselling One Day by David Nicholls . . . but Miller has the edge on Nicholls as a writer.”
“Marvellously done…Miller is acute on class…and on old age…but he is at his most incisive in his patient, exacting study of masculinity. Not since Martin Amis in his pomp has a British writer dealt so honestly and unflinchingly with the privileges and challenges that are inherent in maleness.”
“Prose and plot stride along vigorously; it’s an enormously readable book…He gets the concerned, halting male dialogue just about pitch-perfect… An affirmation of the bruised, basic goodness of many men; read it for that reason alone.”
“Miller is an astute observer of tangled emotions as well as class…The Faithful Couple brilliantly dramatises the moral complexity of a friendship sealed by guilt and betrayal.”
“Well-handled set-pieces studded with social and domestic insight, a constant of the novel’s shifting viewpoint…Miller’s journalism clearly gives him a sense of how the murky crosscurrents of world finance might infect the traditional English novel of class…a tale of repressed moral decadence.”
“Miller is an energetic, muscular writer with a talent for storytelling and a fine ear for dialogue . . . this second novel is unlikely to disappoint.”
“Lucid and engaging…The Faithful Couple is a thoughtful, frequently witty and insightful book.”
“Taut yet versatile…Involvement and empathy spring from every page…London throbs and hums around Miller’s characters…A thoughtful, value-added riff on friendship.”
“Miller gets the love/hate rivalry lurking at the bottom of so many male friendships just right, setting the nuances of class and the different guises of success against the corrupting whiff of money over the past two decades.The sense of guilt for a youthful mistake reverberating down the years is deeply unsettling.”
“In the end what will matter is love in many forms, and shame. A magnificent book, both readable and literary at the same time.”
“With exquisitely rendered prose, Miller examines the ties that irrevocably bind us, reinforcing his reputation for intelligent literary fiction.”
“A clever story, across decades of a friendship, The Faithful Couple is about loyalty, betrayal, trust, lies and everything in between…A.D. Miller is an adept writer. He weaves more complex themes into the narrative, about women, morality and how our lives have changed in the midst of the digital revolution…He writes convincingly from the voices of both Neil and Adam, about the intricacies of family, upbringing, expectation and competition between friends. His portrayal of married life with kids is spot-on…Intriguing.”
“A compelling study of male friendship and betrayal. Miller shows he is no flash in the pan.”
“An excellent story of friendship and betrayal.”
“Delivers a captivating look at the strange mix of fierce loyalty and competitiveness in male friendships.”
“The interplay between the men is shaded so exquisitely, you’ll be second-guessing every move.”
Advance praise
“Powerful and moving. I loved The Faithful Couple.”
“Compelling, elegant and deeply insightful, The Faithful Couple is that rare and moving novel: a true portrait of friendship between men. You won’t soon forget it.”
“The Faithful Couple is a quietly gripping work of unsettling power and grace; a subtle, brilliantly observed meditation on friendship, guilt, morality, and class.”
“This could be the One Day of male friendship. What David Nicholls did for romantic love in the Britain of the recent past, AD Miller does for the bond that can link two men, watching it unfold in the same country and over the same period. The result is a fine, absorbing novel, its evocation of youthful ambition, of male rivalry, of the steady, quotidian rhythms of domestic life – as well as the convulsions of the last two decades – exquisite in its precision. A book of deep insight from a writer emerging as one of our leading novelists.”
“A brave and lucid novel… anatomises the society and culture we live in today.”
“A brilliant, moving portrait of a male friendship. Miller writes with wonderful insight”