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Luna, Phoenix, Queen brilliantly emphasizes the agony of isolation in its various forms, and the relief that can only come in telling a story for oneself.

[A] heart-seizing, insightful, complexly provocative, and profoundly intentional novel of loneliness and longing, betrayal and rescue, creativity and love.

Heart-stoppingly good. . . . Orringer constructs a soulful novel that works variations on themes of love, loss, and legacy.

Orringer plumbs the depths of Alzheimer’s, betrayal, and plagiarism in her exquisite latest. . . . She offers fascinating insights into the motivations behind and consequences of literary appropriation. This is superb.

Magnificent… As in 2010’s superb The Invisible Bridge, Orringer seamlessly combines compelling inventions with complex fact… Brilliantly conceived, impeccably crafted, and showcasing Orringer’s extraordinary gifts, this is destined to become a classic.

An elegant, meditative novelistic reconstruction of critical years in the life of Varian Fry… The central point of intrigue, providing a fine plot twist, is also expertly handled, evidence of an accomplished storyteller at work. Altogether satisfying. Mix Alan Furst and André Aciman, and you’ll have a feel for the territory in which this well-plotted book falls.

A historical novel absolutely relevant to our own time, The Flight Portfolio brings to life a hero as complex and engrossing as the agonizing ethical questions he faces. Orringer not only recreates the world of wartime Marseille, but seems to drop the reader there by way of a masterfully fashioned literary trapdoor–and anyone who picks up this spectacular novel risks a swift descent into its vivid and consuming swirl.

No book this year could possibly compare with The Flight Portfolio: ambitious, meticulous, big-hearted, gorgeous, historical, suspenseful, everything you want a novel to be.

Gripping….Orringer is a beautiful prose stylist who captures depth of meaning about complex human issues, and she addresses head-on the moral dilemma of making value judgments on individual lives. Vivid.

Varian Fry lit a small, bright lamp in a world of darkness, and in the deft hands of Julie Orringer—under the spell of her masterful prose, her feeling portraiture, her classic spy-thriller plotting and her vivid recreation of that beautiful and terrible world—I found the radiance of Fry’s courage, flawed humanity, and steadfast resistance shedding an inexhaustible light on our own ever-darkening time.