“The novel, as with all Ryan’s work, is tightly compressed, skillfully whittled down to the point where each word carries far more than its weight… Filled with tenderness, and written with the quiet lyricism that has put Ryan on the topmost branch of the flourishing tree of contemporary Irish fiction.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“The working out of the sadness and secrets of this little family is beautifully done, poignant rather than depressing, and ending on a sweet note. As in his past work, Ryan’s prose is a miracle of fluidity, of country talk flowing in and out of people’s thoughts, capturing the rural Irish soul in its whole essence as brilliantly as any writer ever has.”
—Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Ryan (From a Low and Quiet Sea) impresses with this gorgeous and meticulous multigenerational family saga…Fans of Sebastian Barry and Anne Enright will love this delicate and lush portrait.” —Publishers Weekly
“A must-read.” —Irish Central
“Here is love as a weapon and a balm. Love as faith, fate and redemption… a gorgeously wrought book – compassionate without dissolving into nostalgia.”
—Guardian
“One of the greatest Irish novels of this century so far.” —Sunday Independent
“Endlessly surprising and incredibly moving.” —David Nicholls
“A big-hearted, beautiful work of art, full of truth and intensity.” —Kit de Waal
“Donal Ryan is giving us characters – their angles and their language – that we haven’t seen in Irish literature before.” —Roddy Doyle
