"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