... splendid.

Prendergast created this guidebook from remnants of a previous book, 'a pile of unused jottings and scribbles set aside…on the theme of walks'. One is reminded of the shoemaker’s last pieces of leather transformed overnight into a very fine pair of shoes – these shoes walk the reader through Marcel Proust’s Á la recherche du temps perdu in great style.

... [a] magnificent and very living book.

Prendergast generally cites remarkable Proust passages solely in English (only occasionally quoting from the original French text); Proust’s brilliance as a writer still comes through in the translated texts, but Prendergast’s analysis might have been enhanced by including more passages in French.

Prendergast, the general editor of Penguin’s English reissues of Proust’s work, sheds light on the novelist’s rich sensory world in this bibliophile’s treasure chest.