'Like the cult television series SIX FEET UNDER and DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, LUCK is a sustained, sardonic satire on mortality... [Barfoot's] observations are even-handed in their wisdom and acidity. She springs jokes and puns on you, her punctuation Sparkian in its fastidious exactitude and her eye for the quietly absurd unerring... harrowing and hilarious.' -- Amanda Craig INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY '[Barfoot] beautifully captures the irreverent and banal details of coping with death and funeral-arranging, as well as the huge pain of physical absence.' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 'Our capacity to survive and adapt is thoughtfully examined but the novel's structure is its real strength: Barfoot drops key questions at the start, then releases information in small tantalising packets...' SUNDAY TIMES (13/2/05) 'Luck is a book about death that is alive with passion and an absolute joy to read. Barfoot's writing is both emotionally generous and smarting with wit. Luck is a faultless delight.' IRELAND ON SUNDAY 'After only a few pages of Joan Barfoot's latest release, the plot screams of eclectic originality... Just as unique as the plot is the narrative - a dry, perceptive voice that occasionally participates in the story by offering dry asides and acerbic opinions. Bizarre? Yes. But addictive.' DAILY RECORD 'This is a clever, funny and moving book with genuine insights about the nature of grief and just what constitutes luck; good or bad. Barfoot is a shrewd writer whoses ability to move between the serious and the comic will have you tittering and pondering in equal measure.' WATERSTONE'S BOOKS QUARTERLY 'Joan Barfoot reveals how life's contingencies can affect us in unexpected ways... Barfoot has been compared to Carol Shields and Luck, her tenth novel will not disappoint. From the start her comic talent is clear, while her eye for 'the miracle of life's sudden perfections' confirms her as a writer of considerable power. Luck is one of her best yet.' -- Sophie Ratcliffe DAILY MAIL 'brilliantly conceived, masterfully realized... Coming upon this novel is a fine piece of luck indeed.' PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY 'Barfoot... has an uncanny way of blending light and dark, seriousness and humour, the tragic and the absurd, all of it held together by a deeply felt moral centre.' NATIONAL POST (CANADA) 'Joan Barfoot's work is tough and cynical yet underlaid by sympathy for the flounderings of the individual in a world of random tragedy... a dark meditation on mortality.' TLS