“Leila Aboulela’s is a unique and refreshing voice in contemporary Scottish fiction’’
— James Robertson

“[Aboulela] is one of the best short story writers alive. Publishing her at Granta Magazine and Freeman’s has been one of the highlights of my life as an editor. Since winning the inaugural Caine Prize……,Aboulela has assembled a small body of surpassing grace.’’
(John Freeman, Lithub)

“Leila Aboulela is a constant inspiration to me. Her acute observations, magical realism and fine, flowing prose about women and worlds I know well but had never seen drawn in all their vivid complexity on the page before, are what make me return to her work again and again.’’
— Sabrina Mahfouz, editor of The Things I Would Tell You: British Muslim Women Write

“Aboulela is an endearing storyteller. There is a kindness in her tempered tone. Read her books to get away from the cliché and sensationalism in mainstream fiction.’’
(Ainehi Edoro, Brittlepaper)

“One of the few Muslim women writers in Britain to present their faith as a living force rather than discarded history, she also makes rich use of the tensions and ironies thrown up by her Anglo-Sudanese background.“
(Boyd Tonkin – The Independent)

“Aboulela’s prose is amazing. She handles intense emotions in a contained yet powerful way, lending their expressions directness and originality, and skilfully capturing the discrete sensory impressions that compound to form a mood.”
(Kim Hedges – San Francisco Chronicle)

“This is the modern female voice…. fresh, diverse, challenging, uninhibited.”
(Rachel Cusk – The Telegraph)

“Aboulela has a talent for expressing the simple wonders of unbroken faith. Just as deftly, she uncovers the intricacies of how such faith can be challenged—suddenly, subtly.”
( Kaiama L. Glover – The New York Times)

“The leading contemporary Arab writer to explore the encounter between Arab Muslims and the British.”
(Susannah Tarbush – The Saudi Gazette)

“A versatile prose stylist….[Aboulela is] a voice for multiculturalism.”
The New York Times

“Aboulela has the gift of making her readers care about her characters.”
(Aminatta Forna- Financial Times)