‘I absolutely loved this novel. It has style. pace and real emotional depth, all tied up in the kind of story that holds you fast from the first page to the last. The way the relationship develops between Delia and Tess is really something special, as they both find a way to move forward in ways they could never have imagined before they met. I am really not ready to let these characters go, which is the highest compliment I can pay to the work of an author.’ Brown Flopsy’s Book Burrow
https://brownflopsy.blogspot.com/2022/09/finer-things-by-david-wharton.html
‘Wharton’s prose is crystalline, and the plot really compelling.’ Inigo Purcell: Books of the Year (and the last few years) https://inigopurcell.wordpress.com/2021/12/24/books-of-the-year-and-the-last-few-years/
‘a vivid, atmospheric read which is as much an examination of the difficulties of creating your own life as it is a story of crime and possible redemption.’ Sarah Hughes, in the i : ’18 Best Crime Books for 2019′ https://inews.co.uk/ibuys/books-and-stationery/best-crime-fiction-thrillers-real-life-books-2019-637277
‘Wharton’s debut novel thrives on strong characters and a vivid recreation of the times … as the first seeds of Swinging London take root in the early sixties…’ Alastair Mabbott – The Herald https://www.heraldscotland.com/arts_ents/17741444.paperbacks-finer-things-in-miniature-the-wild-wind/
‘I felt like I was living this bohemian life along with these amazing women and I feel privileged to have known them.’ Bookish Chat blog https://bookishchat.wordpress.com/2019/10/03/finer-things-by-david-wharton-a-review/
‘This bloody excellent novel’ Rob Palk – Author of Animal Lovers
‘David Wharton has created a layered, nuanced and totally believable world, and a lovely portrait of two young women whose different worlds collide.’ ***** Amanda Huggins – Author of Separated from the Sea and Brightly Coloured Horses https://troutiemcfishtales.blogspot.com/
‘ Filled to the brim with vibrant characters and charm, this debut novel from David Wharton is utterly captivating.’ Chiara Bullen (Bookspace) https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/14425/bookspace-girl-cage-my-name-monster-our-little-secrets-finer-things
‘This witty and intelligent debut crackles with personality and seedy glamour, its cast of ‘real characters’ constituting a (non-airbrushed) snapshot of the political, sexual and social climate of the early 1960s.’ Isabel Costello – Author of Paris Mon Amour (The Literary Sofa) https://literarysofa.com/2019/05/22/summer-reads-2019/
‘An excellent portrayal of London in 1963, just as it’s about to start swinging.’ Books from Scotland
‘David Wharton presents us with wonderfully vivid and idiosyncratic characters with perfectly convincing idiomatic speech. He touches on themes of small-time crime and emerging big west-end mafia crime, rising sixties political movements, bohemian art and writing, young sexual discovery and youth mental illness as London is growing into the sixties.’ Amazon Review
‘A vivid, satisfying walk through sixties London.’ The Wee Review
‘…a truly brilliant debut novel’ ***** Haley Renee (The Caffienated Reader/Goodreads) https://thecaffeinatedreader.com/2019/06/22/finer-things-review/
‘I read this in two sittings. An incredible book.’ Lyndsy Spence – biographer and reviewer
‘I really loved this book… I found myself transported to the sixties.’ ***** Amazon Review
‘An evocative portrait of two women navigating 1960s London.’ Mahsuda Snaith – Author of The Things We Thought We Knew and How to Find Home
‘David Wharton’s novel unfolds with all the style, pace and drama of a British New Wave movie. It is a very fine thing indeed.’ Jonathan Taylor – Novelist, Memoirist, Poet, Editor
‘David Wharton’s Finer Things is vibrant, absorbing and bursting with the unexpected. The novel is a sideways look at 1960s London, in which art school bohemia meets the gangster underworld. It is full of spot-on observations about the subtle power play in human interaction. I was immediately drawn into its vivid world.’ Catherine Simpson – Author of Truestory and When I Had a Little Sister
David Wharton 