[4] Alastair Niven, judge of the Man Booker Prize for 2014, described it as "a moving and necessary novel", and The Bookseller called it "a terrifically absorbing, topical and quietly affecting novel of interlocking worlds and relationships".
The composer Diana Burrell called it "an exhilarating book that celebrates the power of music as universal language, healer, political tool - the thread that links humankind across cultures and continents".
[9] Boyd Tonkin, reviewer for The Independent, described it as "ambitious and gripping … an eloquent exploration of what music can mean in a life … handled with a zest that outshines most of this year's cacophony of musically-themed fictions.
It’s a story of newcomers to the islands, drawn to what seems a simpler life in a place blessed by nature and apparently cut off from mainland pressures; but their own complexities follow them.
"[14] The Independent on Sunday reviewer said: "So successfully has Molteno breathed life into her characters that we get a real sense of their vulnerability, their fury, their sadness and their astonishing resilience.
The Pakistani writer Ahmed Rashid called it "The most extraordinary book of short stories – one of the first attempts to straddle in fiction the social divide between white Britons and Asians.