"That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz is a quiet marvel, a rich and gentle book of small moments, large lives and hidden miracles. With real skill and restraint, Tallack shows characters living with dignity and wit and no small courage, faced with the vagaries of fate." —MARTIN MACINNES

"At once both heart-throbbingly beautiful and deeply contemplative, both deftly sparing and expertly evocative... An entrancing, enthralling and enriching read from start to finish – I savoured every moment and morsel of it." —MICHAEL PEDERSEN

"Wonderful." —ELVIS COSTELLO

"Touching and gracefully written... Though Tallack is dealing with themes of loss, loneliness and guilt, he does it with a lightness and humour that can't help but evoke frequent smiles, but never gets overly sentimental. That the novel comes with an ironic sting in its tail makes it no less life-affirming." —Herald

"This is a beautifully written novel, imaginative, understanding and sympathetic. The Northern Isles have a rich literary heritage. Malachy Tallack takes his place in a line of excellence, a worthy heir to Eric Linklater... Edwin Muir and George Mackay Brown. Matching such writers is no mean feat." —Scotsman

"Malachy Tallack is working at the very top of his game as a novelist. This lovely book is beautifully put together, with perfect economy - the language is clear, sparse and beautiful, not a word wasted. In quickly but expertly drawn strokes, the story of a life lived unremarkably but no less meaningfully for that, is illustrated with perfect clarity and heartbreaking poignancy. A tiny shining gem of a thing." —KIRSTIN INNES

"A novel of quiet elegance and emotional intelligence, great delicacy and deceptive simplicity. Its story of grief, redemption and an unlikely friendship left me longing for the quick skies and luminous seas of Shetland." —GAVIN FRANCIS

"Unexpectedly profound. Tender-hearted and graceful, this is a novel to be cherished. A quite beautiful evocation that every life is extraordinary." —Skinny

"As an islander and a songwriter, it seems to me that both, when done well, are about a kind of truth. About finding one correct note after the other. And in this beautiful book, and in Cautious Jack, Malachy Tallack does it for us over and over again. A life portrait that proves each person is an island themselves, surrounded by the notes of the Atlantic." —COLIN MACINTYRE

"I lingered with each page, sinking into the quiet tenderness of the writing, the spray of sea and wind . . . A soulful, subtle beauty of a book." —KATE MOLLESON