A generous and erudite book…We're in the company of someone who loves The Arabian Nights, and who has generously shared that love with us through this companion.' — Michele Roberts, Independent on Sunday
'Superlative…just the sort of relaxed, informative book that Edmund Wilson might have written had he grown interested in the Middle East and its early literature.' — Michael Dirda, Washington Post
'Irwin organizes his material like a good storyteller…he gives us the crystallized sum of The Nights: ancedote, history, moral fable, aphorism, story after story, wonder upon wonder. This monumental, infinitely faceted gem should be every writer's bedtime sampler.' — Michael Moorcock, New Statesman & Society
'A work both learned and witty…Robert Irwin has wonderfully deepened the pleasures and the interest in reading The Arabian Nights as a supreme work of imaginative fiction.' — Marina Warner,TLS
