The novel conveys the full spectrum of Ruth trying to mother Eleanor in her troubled state from afar….This tale of sorrow and devotion with a layer of hope is for fans of real-world family fiction focusing on intense situations.
—Beth Liebman Gibbs, Library Journal
[Loved and Missed has] an impeccable tone: funny, dark, quiet, sharp.
—Maggie Lange, Bustle
A single mother navigates custody of her granddaughter—and tries to correct mistakes she made the first time around—in this gentle but heart-wrenching story....Readers who are averse to crying in public be warned: You’ll want to sit with this astounding story at home.
—Kirkus Starred Review
British writer Boyt delivers a story of filial estrangement in her mordant and touching U.S. debut…Boyt’s assured effort brims with intelligence and feeling.
—Publishers Weekly
UK author Boyt’s first novel to be published in the States covers the themes of parenting, addiction, and forgiveness....This tale of sorrow and devotion with a layer of hope is for fans of real-world family fiction focusing on intense situations.
—Library Journal
What a beautiful, illuminating and deeply humane novel Susie Boyt has given us—her prose glorious, her characters alive upon the page, their voices and gestures utterly vivid. Loved and Missed, rich like life itself in sorrow, comedy and joy, is a triumph.
—Claire Messud
Loved and Missed is a story of parental love and human failing that’s more funny than it has any right to be, more heartbreaking than you think you can bear; it's the sort of book you can’t wait to recommend to everyone you know, the sort of book we are lucky to have.
—Rumaan Alam
Susie Boyt is an extraordinary novelist of the inner life. Loved and Missed is her most masterful, most fearless book yet.
—Joseph O'Neill
Loved and Missed deftly sidesteps the clichés that often plague stories involving drug abuse, and it conveys the complexities of loving someone who can't love you back with remarkable delicacy.
—Mia Levitin, Financial Times
This beautiful tale of love, courage and compassion ... captures the pain of estrangement in penetrating, haunting language.... Loved and Missed is a complex, deeply moving novel about frailty and suffering. Despite all the sadness, hope remains.
—Martin Chilton, Independent
Boyt is both funny ... and poignant ... but never less than impeccably truthful, with a broad, oft breathtaking wisdom.
—Emily Hourican, Irish Independent
Boyt's novel is compelling—and invites our compassion for those who may not always earn it, but still deserve it.
—Marianka Swain, Daily Telegraph
Always surprising—unexpected, particular, the thing you didn't know you wanted, but needed more than anything. A tender study of unrequited maternal love redeemed ultimately by the quiet glory of not giving up.
—Tamsin Greig
Boyt's writing is perceptive and emotionally powerful.
—MSN
I adored Susie Boyt's novel Loved And Missed, which explores what can happen when, out of the blue, addiction and dereliction arrive to wreck a family. And how goodwill, determination and encouragement can ultimately put things back together again.
—Rev Richard Coles, Daily Mail