"This book is remarkably convincing . . . One's first reaction on finishing the novel is 'Goodness, how sad!' One's second is 'Goodness, how funny!' --Francis King, The Spectator

"Benatar writes with wit and humour about subjects most writers do not tackle--ageing, age, the frequent nastiness of family life." --Doris Lessing

"An intriguing, funny, sometimes exciting and, finally, sad story; the elegant idiosyncrasy of the author's viewpoint, which made Wish Her Safe At Home so enjoyably inventive without discarding a carefully controlled narrative, here creates a moving story from what might at first appear to be the elements of a black farce." --Christopher Hawtree, The Literary Review

"Arnold Bennett, reflecting with satisfaction on the ability of his novel, The Old Wives' Tale, to give an authentic sense of the passage of time, once observed complacently that 'it isn't in many books that you can see people growing old.' Much to its credit, When I Was Otherwise is such a book." --Peter Kemp, The Times Literary Supplement