Reviews for The Lost Properties of Love

“[a] wonderful and highly individual book… I haven’t so relished an account of reading Tolstoy since Elif Batuman’s The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books, in 2010. Ratcliffe is brilliant on Tolstoy’s tragic heroine… The pages crackle with her cleverness and she has a genius for concision...”

— Cressida Connolly, The Spectator

The first two pages of Sophie Ratcliffe’s intricate, fiercely intelligent memoir punch with the might of an entire book, distilling its central loss – the death of her father when she was 13 years old – into a series of indelible impressions saturated in 80s pop culture

— Hephzibah Anderson, Guardian

“an ingeniously constructed tribute to messy relationships, roving between her teenage days, the early death of her father and a love affair with a charismatic older man. He once asked why she didn’t write something people might want to read. This is her eloquent reply..”

— Prospect Magazine, Best Memoirs and Biographies of 2019

“Compelling…startling…she writes brilliantly about grief …. I loved the honesty of this book and the way Ratcliffe reminds us the most intimate details of our lives can all come to light at any time”

— Helen Brown, The Daily Telegraph

“shaped with wit and precision … this book confirms what I have long suspected…that the best memoirs are born of loss”

— Frances Wilson, The Oldie

“an exhilarating, thoughtful and often comically honest foray into the life of a woman trying to understand herself …a must-read… this book can remind you of the joy of reading and making connections while you explore the possibilities of storytelling”

— Aleesha Koersen, Bookslut

“Ratcliffe’s description of loss … is wonderfully done … [a] beautifully disorganised book”

— Kathryn Hughes, Guardian

Praise for The Lost Properties of Love

‘A compelling and very honest book. At times it made me think of Tracey Emin’s bed! So many of the details and detritus of a life arranged in a work of art.’

— Neil Tennant musician and co-founder of the Pet Shop Boys

‘a limpid, funny, haunting meditation on love, loss and parenting’

— Patrick Gale, bestselling novelist

‘Magnificent… The Lost Properties of Love is glorious on the journeys of life, love and loss, stirringly intimate, deeply painful, occasionally hilarious. It deserves to do brilliantly’

— Philippe Sands, author of bestselling biography East West Street

‘Deeply moving … Sophie Ratcliffe has rummaged in her heart and produced a memoir of books, trains, love and grief. If you have ever lost an umbrella, an earring or someone close to you, you have found your book.’

— Andy Miller, author of The Year of Reading Dangerously 

‘A mesmerising book about the messiness of life, love and marriage, and the pain of losing the one you love … raw, truthful, witty and occasionally sublime.’

 Paula Byrne, bestselling author of The Real Jane Austen

‘Sophie Ratcliffe brings a breathtaking honesty and a cool precision to her imaginative meditation on the lessons of Anna Karenina – it is a true tour de force which is both moving and exhilarating to read.’

— Rosamund Bartlett, author of Tolstoy: A Life and the translator of Anna Karenina

‘A lovely, intricate book and devastatingly honest. I think every truthful person will find themselves mirrored here.’

— Craig Raine, poet and critic

sumptuously written book…to sit quietly with. A book that encourages silent reflection and a book that many will see parts of their own soul within its pages.
"We do not, I think, get lost in books, so much as catch and lose and tangle their details in the narratives of our own lives.”

— Emer, Goodreads