"This is a gorgeous, delicately surprising piece of writing. . . . It's like spirit photography, all fuzzy outlines and unaccountable light: a snapshot of something that may or may not exist." --Terrence Rafferty, The New York Times Book Review

"Springtime is a small and beautifully crafted book, all shining, perfectly polished sentences. It's slight enough to finish in one sitting, but restrain yourself: Savor every word of it." --Constance Grady, Vox's "18 New Books to Read this Summer"

"De Kretser, author of four well-received novels, is a writer who other writers admire. Hilary Mantel, no less, has praised de Kretser for her 'sharp, almost hallucinatory detail.'" --Sarah Murdoch, The Toronto Star

"Each bite-sized chapter of this charming book is punctuated by a revelation, whether mundane or otherworldly, that reminds us that we all inhabit not just space, but time. It's a fast and captivating read, leaving us to wonder what we might be missing as we wander through the landscapes of our own lives." --Ginny Greene, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

"A young scholar is haunted by literal and metaphorical ghosts. . . Frances is adjusting to her new life not only as a Sydney resident, but as the lover of Charlie, who's left his marriage and his young son, Luke, to live with her. To mitigate against her disorientation--particularly when Luke comes to visit--Frances walks her dog through her new neighborhood. When she keeps glimpsing a woman no one else can see, wearing "an old-fashioned dress" and standing in a lushly landscaped backyard, she feels unsettled. . . De Kretser has crafted a story that is somewhere shy of novella, but the brevity suits not only the abruptness of the intrusions in Frances' life, but also de Kretser's knack for focusing on just a few charged details. Indeed, this is a story about perception as much as it is a kind of ghost story. . . A subtle and intellectual take on the supernatural." --Kirkus Reviews

"All the traditional pleasures of a ghost story are revived, and cleverly transformed, in de Kretser's taut, nimble, atmospheric short novel. . . Readers will retain the precise, startling images powering de Kretser's prose--azaleas growing 'as big as fists'--rendering even loved ones as unknowable as the world beyond." --Publishers Weekly

"De Kretser's prose is as lush and evocative as the plantlife surrounding and intoxicating her protagonist." --Christopher Shultz, LitReactor

"A serious international novelist of the first rank." --The Economist

"A dark gem of a book . . . .One reads Springtime not for its shock value--this tale is much more subtle than that--but for the way De Kretser explores the nature of ambiguity and for her deliciously unsettling descriptions." --Andrew Wilson, The Independent

"[Springtime is] a wonderful reminder of the good things that can happen when publishers take on shorter works....It's a ghost story, albeit a thrillingly self-aware and lightfooted one....While Springtime is preternaturally alert to its antecedents--despite the bell-like clarity of de Kretser's prose the story suggests something of a thrilling sublimation of Henry James's supernatural fiction--it is also exquisitely modern." --James Bradley, The Australian