RaveThe Guardian (UK)Remarkably assured ... After a slightly slow start, the momentum builds via a series of dramatic turns, culminating in a genuinely shocking twist. And yet, as with the novels of fellow Irish author Tana French, there is much to savour beyond the thrilling plot. The characterisation is particularly strong, each psychological portrait richly drawn; the prose is beautifully atmospheric throughout ... A page-turner.
Sarah Hall
RaveIrish Independent (IRE)Hall is one of the few authors on whose every word I hang ... Burntcoat feels like a culmination of Hall’s work and, in my opinion, it is her finest yet ... this staggering novel can be read in a matter of hours. It is an exquisite account of sexual intimacy, of maternal love, of our terrifying capacity for survival and our commitment to creating beauty out of the darkness.
Téa Obreht
RaveThe Irish Independent (IRE)\"Though Lurie and Nora\'s paths never quite cross, both their stories are characterized by similar questions of restlessness and home; of what it means to choose one place, one life, over another ... Both characters are also deeply connected to the surrounding landscape of the American West, which is depicted in Obreht\'s trademark gorgeous prose ... I have no doubt that, for better or for worse, comparisons between this novel and The Tiger\'s Wife will abound. However, as a work in its own right, Inland is very fine.\
Ayelet Gundar-Goshen
PositiveThe Guardian...the events of the book’s final third more closely resemble those of a police thriller, a far cry from the static space of Eitan’s personal meltdown. This shift in pace is certainly exhilarating, and Gundar-Goshen has previously displayed her rare ability to combine elements from a variety of genres. However, the tone proves slightly problematic. Where One Night, Markovitch was written in sensuous, comic prose, imbued with the generosity of language and storytelling, here the language can feel less assured ... Despite some tonal inconsistencies, this novel proves it’s not every day a writer like this comes our way.
Eimear McBride
PositiveThe Los Angeles Review of BooksThe Lesser Bohemians not only follows in A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing's footsteps, but in many ways takes up where it left off. Questions of consent and familial abuse, of female promiscuity and sexual identity are yet again unflinchingly interrogated ... there are countless traces of trauma to be found in The Lesser Bohemians — from parental death to psychological and physical abuse. However, unlike its predecessor, there is also plenty of joy, plenty of adventure and fun ... for the most part, the sex is very very good. There is sober sex and inebriated sex; there is tender sex and vicious sex; there is consensual sex and problematic sex and sex that treads a fine, blurred line. McBride’s skill in depicting each union and the underlying politics and machinations thereof is unparalleled, and for that alone, the novel can be deemed a triumph ... Undoubtedly, it is a novel that will divide readers, that will provoke a plethora of tenuous academic theories, that will raise more questions than it can possibly answer. But for its sheer vitality and dazzling linguistic flair, it is another significant achievement. And for all its flaws, inconsistencies, and puzzling difficulties, it is, in many ways, a perfect portrait of love.
Belinda McKeon
RaveThe Los Angeles Review of BooksMcKeon’s ability to capture the intricacies of this relationship is startling. She carefully portrays every nuance of their platonic but 'rich, layered affection' ... Tender is a much louder novel [than McKeon's debut], allowing us to be almost entirely privy to the unsayable ... McKeon paints a rich and painfully honest portrait, so bursting with life and intelligence that it reverberates in the mind long after the novel has come to a heartbreaking end.
