The Gilded Chalet: Off-piste in Literary Switzerland

With a sharp eye for detail and a historian's capacious knowledge, Padraig Rooney has written a superbly amusing guide to all the writers who've been drawn to or emerged from Switzerland. This is a book that should be stuffed into every stocking - the perfect Christmas gift!

EDMUND WHITE
author of The Flaneur

A fascinating look behind the scenery at how Switzerland has influenced and affected some of the greatest authors and some of my favourite books.

DICCON BEWES
author of Slow Train to Switzerland

There is a mastery in the handling of the prose rhythms which I find exciting. It is in order for an ageing writer, in a valediction to Irish readers, to essay a prophesy about Irish letters. Mr Rooney will be a credit to them.

ANTHONY BURGESS

author of A Clockwork Orange

A consummate lover of language and a master of atmosphere and the telling detail.

World of Hibernia

Rooney’s poetry is subtly immediate, quietly evocative...

CARRIE ETTER

The Warwick Review

Elegant and evocative...

AUGUSTINE MARTIN

The Irish Times

In times of trouble, strange works appear, pale and uncanny as mushrooms overnight.

AIDAN HIGGINS

author of Langrishe Go Down

Lushly decadent yet simply poetic... it reminds one of a rare orchid - beautiful, unnatural and poisonous.

The Sunday Press