NUALA O’CONNOR – Reviews and Blurbs
Seaborne Review Quotes:
‘This is an astonishingly sensual book in a very literal sense; Anne, and by extension the reader, experiences her world through all of her senses, and O’Connor renders the sounds, textures, smells and tastes of her life in brilliantly evocative prose.’ The Irish Times
‘Nuala O’Connor’s Seaborne is a glorious imagining of the life of pirate Anne Bonny … another fine example of the historical novelist’s art, an admirable feat of imagination. O’Connor’s Anne has a fluid identity from the start … Anne emerges as not only a feminist and even a gender-fluid hero, but a hero to anyone for whom the dream of freedom remains.’ Sunday Business Post
‘This is a dazzling novel.’ RTÉ Culture
‘A thrilling and sensuous portrait…’ Image magazine
‘Seaborne is an outstanding novel written with great vitality and tenderness.’ Irish Farmers Journal
‘With Seaborne she really hits her stride, bringing Anne Bonny to life as a lively, lusty and complicated woman … O’Connor … has such a musical ear for language … This is as swashbuckling a tale as you could hope for. Anne Bonny leaps off the pages in all her fiery glory and O’Connor shows us once again how a brilliant novelist can resurrect a whole life.’ Sunday Independent
‘Nuala O’Connor has crafted a vibrant and tragic tale…’ Historical Novels Review
‘…an artful novel of sublime imagination…’ Books Ireland
‘Seaborne is a superb novel, bursting with a buzzing vitality and sensuality. O’Connor has captured a time and place with an outstanding clarity. A powerful and remarkable portrayal … an exuberant and passionate novel…’ Swirl and Thread
‘Pirates are cool and O’Connor’s fictionalised retelling of the life of Anne Bonny reminds us of that certainty by having Bonny stand as a symbol for individuality, gender fluidity, and sexual liberation, a hero as relevant to our times as her own.’ Hot Press
‘Her prose is infused with the salt and spray of the Atlantic, her narrative a vessel for exploring the themes of loss, longing, and the pull of the tides that govern our lives … O’Connor’s writing captures the rhythm of the sea and its capacity for both destruction and renewal.’ Superprof
Seaborne Blurbs
‘Nuala O’Connor consistently writes the most captivating novels. No one writes voice quite as well as Nuala. Seaborne is an intimate, intriguing and irreverent portrait of a woman we should all know more about. I was spellbound from start to finish.’—JanCarson
‘Readers can hear the snap of sails and smell the tang of sea salt in this immersive novel about the buccaneering Anne Bonny – an irrepressible and irresistible protagonist.’ —Martina Devlin
‘Seaborne is a rollicking triumph of passion, and a powerful portrayal of Irish pirate, Anne Bonny––a true original. Faultless in tone, this novel is a wonderfully rendered reimagining of a great historical figure, and confirms (what I already knew) that O’Connor is one of Ireland’s leading historical novelists. Filled with desire, ambition, bravery and soul, this novel is a wonderful achievement.’ —Elaine Feeney
‘What an immense pleasure it was to read and what a gorgeous and perfect ending. I love how Nuala has given a full fictive life to this incredible woman, and the women she loved, showing us how ‘they cut their own paths. Knew their hearts.’ This book, like Anne’s life, is a fabulous voyage, a wonderful, buoyant tale, sublimely imagined and beautifully told.’ —Donal Ryan
‘Seaborne is an immersive and beguiling novel. O’Connor’s vibrant, sensual prose is a joy to read.’ —Danielle McLaughlin
Menagerie reviews & blurbs
‘…a warm feelingful generosity of vision and a distant, diagnostic eye…a collection which is at once involving and clear-sighted.’ The Irish Times
‘Her narratives might be composed in straight lines but they are nothing of the kind, offering a kind of detailed and direct meandering into and through struggle, complexity and ease. These poems are quite magical, honestly.’ Rob McLennan
‘The poetry is wry and witty, rooted in place and observation and lit up by O’Connor’s brilliant turns of phrase. It’s at once humble and otherworldly.’ The Madrid Review
BLURBS
‘Nuala O’Connor’s Menagerie is as wild as it gets: a kaleidoscopic collection of beautiful forms and patternings. She has narrative gifts in abundance and can swing effortlessly from folktale to allegory to prayer to fable to scientific nugget. So many fascinating byroads & loanings, back alleys & shortcuts, motorways & roundabouts, avenues & promenades for readers to ramble and be amazed. At its tender heart is a deep compassion for the plight of creatures, including us humans, and the dramas we spin about ourselves.’ Paula Meehan
‘There is something beguiling and mesmeric in the wide ranging carnival of language that is so unfailingly satisfying in Nuala O’Connor’s welcome new collection of poems, Menagerie. Exquisitely ordered, with acute tenderness and loss at their heart, these poems insinuate themselves under our skin. They often ask us to stand on our heads, or flip the very world – and its words – upside down, the better to know it. Powerful, beautiful, necessary work.’. Geraldine Mitchell
‘Real and surreal, cerebral and deeply felt, the poems in Nuala O’Connor’s latest collection pulsate with narrative intensity and vivid imagery. The creatures in her extraordinary menagerie are multi-specied and multi-faceted; each rendition demonstrates the writer’s ability to empathise with the other, be it animal, mineral or human. If E.M. Forster urged us to ‘only connect’, O’Connor shows those connections in their impressive variety, reminding us in the process of our own responsibilities as beings who share the planet and who have done so much to destroy it. Formally inventive and politically aware, concerned with aesthetics as much as what it means to be human, these poems work by association, each successive echo deepening our engagement with O’Connor’s unique voice and way of seeing. If she is, as she says, ‘language-hooked’, so too is her reader, mesmerised in her wake.’ Nessa O’Mahony
‘MENAGERIE, is a new and stunning collection of poetry by Nuala O’Connor. The dance of her unique intellect is ever present. A poet at home in the world of her thoughts, she creates her own myths, beats her own rhythms. Her poems journey between the familiar and the strange. Her distinct vocabulary is memorable. Strings of lines create wonderment and joyful noises. Imaginative, emotional and expressive, her images unfold with ease. Always refreshingly new: “Menagerie” by Nuala O’Connor is filled with acute observations and lyrical beauty.’ Noel Monahan.
‘Celebrated as a novelist with a lyrical style, Nuala O’Connor has always been a quietly showstopping poet as well. In Menagerie, we are struck by the compassion with which she reaches back into memory to hold hands with the lost. And even as she reflects that “there is no happy ever after, only once upon a time”, she takes us vividly into the places where those two points fleetingly connect. Fired with a rare imagination, Menagerie is playful, spry, and rich in myth. Here is a true poet, one with a storyteller’s eye.’ Patrick Chapman
NORA review quotes
‘…a lively portrait of James Joyce’s wife and muse, Nora Barnacle Joyce. O’Connor has a musical ear for language; Joyce and Nora never seem to lose their lilt.’ Vogue USA
‘In sensuous, resonant prose, Nuala O’Connor has conjured the definitive portrait of this strong, passionate and loyal Irishwoman. Nora is a tour de force, an earthy and authentic love letter to Irish literature’s greatest muse.’ Books Ireland
‘…an earthy and authentic love letter to Irish literature’s greatest muse.’ The Irish Times
‘This fictional Nora is entirely convincing in her raw sensuality.’ The New York Times
‘[a] poignant, comprehensive portrait of Nora Barnacle …narrated in Nora’s robust voice and carried by details saturated in filth…O’Connor’s admirable accomplishment adds to the abundant Joyceana with a moving examination of an unforgettable family.’ Publishers Weekly
NORA blurbs:
A lively and loving paean to the indomitable Nora Barnacle.’
— Edna O’Brien
‘An exceptional novel by one of the most brilliant contemporary Irish writers, this is a story of love in all its many seasons, from ardent sexuality to companionable tenderness, through strength, challenge, and courage. Nuala O’Connor has brought to vivid life a woman about whom every literature lover has surely wondered and has done so with immense skill and daring.’
— Joseph O’Connor, author of Star of the Sea and Shadowplay
REVIEW QUOTES FOR BECOMING BELLE
‘Becoming Belle is rich with authentic, nuanced depictions of Victorian London and it is clear that O’Connor has undertaken meticulous research…O’Connor’s fictionalised account of this remarkable true story is an accomplished work of historical fiction.’ The Irish Times
‘O’Connor skilfully captures the mores of the time and tops it off with a wonderfully suspenseful court case. This is a transportive, enjoyable novel.’ Publishers Weekly
‘What O’Conner excels at is her characterization, she takes you where Belle went and makes you feel what her heroine feels. Her attention to period detail is meticulous and her rage at the social nets that try to bring her heroine down helps drive the narrative.’ The Irish Voice
‘As with her debut, Miss Emily, O’Connor offers a stunning historical reimagining. Her eye for details, including Victorian dress, food, and technology, enhance her mastery of character and inner dialog.’ Starred review for Becoming Belle from Library Journal
‘The book is carefully researched, but the learning is never laid on too thickly. A peppering of Victorian slang here and there is enough to remind the reader of the period… O’Connor’s raunchy sex scenes are much more unexpurgated but her characters have the same earthy charm, and her book satisfies that appetite for feisty, proto-feminist heroines.’ Irish Independent
‘Historical literary fiction can, as Bette Davis might put it, be a bumpy ride. But here the author blends the facts with a thoroughly acceptable level of embellishment. She finds the joy and passion of one young woman, imbues it with pitch-perfect Victorian turn of phrase and ambience and delivers a cracking story. The skilled combination of fact and fiction is what allows the imaginative author to shine, and in this…Nuala O’Connor truly shines.’ Writing.ie
‘O’Connor delves into Victorian London for a beautifully told story…her portrait is deeply researched but carried lightly across the page…sensual, lyrical and uncompromising.’ Sunday Business Post
‘…the period setting comes alive thanks to O’Connor’s lively prose and dialogue.’ KIRKUS Reviews
BECOMING BELLE blurbs:
“Nuala O’Connor has the thrilling ability to step back nimbly and enter the deep dance of time―this is a hidden history laid luminously before us of an exultant Anglo-Irish woman navigating the dark shoals and the bright fields of a life.”―Sebastian Barry, author of The Secret Scripture and Days Without End
“A thoroughly engrossing and entertaining read. O’Connor’s meticulous attention to period detail and scrutiny of the upper classes and their shallow lives [is] reminiscent of Edith Wharton at her very best. It also makes us question whether women have ever really escaped from the censorious judgement of Victorian times.”—Liz Nugent, author of Unraveling Oliver
“Masterful storytelling! I was putty in Nuala O’Connor’s hands. She made the unsinkable Belle Bilton and her down-to-earth sister Flo real to me, and brought 1880’s London to my living room. Encore! Encore!”—Lynn Cullen, bestselling author of Mrs. Poe
“Becoming Belle is a glorious novel in which Belle Bilton and 19th century London are brought roaring to life with exquisite period detail. In her portrayal of Belle, Nuala O’Connor delivers a seductive study of a complex and fascinating woman, who deserves the stage provided for her in this wonderful book.”—Hazel Gaynor, New York Times bestselling author of A Memory of Violets
“Nuala O’Connor is a gifted writer who, with incandescent characters and mellifluous prose, captivates the reader with the same command as magnificent theatre. Becoming Belle is so mesmerizing you will be distraught when it ends and you remember that she lives no more. O’Connor has resurrected a fiery, inexorable woman who rewrites the script on a stage supposedly ruled by men. Sensual, witty, daring, and unapologetically forward, Belle Bilton and her cohorts will dance on in your mind long after the curtains fall.”—Lisa Carey, author of The Stolen Child
“Becoming Belle is luscious, addictive and as satisfyingly wise as it is huge of heart. Nuala O’Connor has gone in deep to imagine the life of a fascinating woman, and from the dance floor to the townhouse to the bedroom, she renders Belle Bilton’s passion, determination and vulnerability bracingly real. A treat as well as a tribute; utterly absorbing”—Belinda McKeon, author of Tender
“O’Connor has a genius for finding the universal and unifying life essence of seemingly diverse women as they nurture their deepest sensibilities and draw upon their enduring strength. … O’Connor’s rendering of a now little-known nineteenth-century music hall dancer in Becoming Belle is thrillingly dramatic and achingly moving and profoundly resonant into this present era.”—Robert Olen Butler, author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
Praise for MISS EMILY by Nuala O’Connor
Miss Emily review quotes
“There can be no better pairing than the great American poet Emily Dickinson recreated through the magical imagination of Irish writer Nuala O’Connor. It’s sheer delight to read of the growing bond between two women of different ages, classes and education who complement each other so perfectly. Miss Emily is mesmerizing from its first pages, a feat made possible only by the pen of a writer of immense talent who connects with Dickinson. She writes from the poet’s perspective with utter confidence, without cliché and with the same love of words. A gift indeed.” – Linda Diebel, Toronto Star
“Nuala O’Connor’s lovely novel pulls us in from its first limpid lines and then detonates with an explosion of power — much like Emily Dickinson’s poems. The novel captivates with its high emotions and rich images. Hope, Ada comments, ‘may be small and bald at first, but then it gathers feathers to itself and flies on robust wings.’ So, too, does O’Connor’s quietly soaring novel.” —Heller McAlpin, Washington Post
“O’Connor brings one of America’s most beloved poets to lifeŠ. [She] is a gifted writer; not only does she bring a believable sense of poetry (clay is “deathly cool around my fingers”) and self-assurance to Emily, she is also capable of conveying complex feeling succinctly, a talent shared by her historical heroine. This novel has the possibility of being a book club juggernaut.” -Starred review in Publishers Weekly
“… beautifully and convincingly evokes the startling, luminous world captured in Dickinson’s poems in the alternating voices of Emily and Ada, who share a passionate nature at odds with proper Amherst society.” -John G. Matthews, Washington State Univ. Libs., Pullman in Library Journal’s July issue
“Irish writer Nuala O’Connor breathes new life into reclusive poet Emily Dickinson in her mesmerizing U.S. debut. Like one of Dickinson’s poems, the deceptively simple narrative packs a powerful punch.” -Margaret Flanagan, Booklist
‘Dickinson in Nuala O’Connor’s revelatory American debut novel Miss Emily. O’Connor’s narrative is no small feat, bringing together the life of Dickinson the poet and her fictional Irish maid Ada Concannon. What follows is a moving and often engrossing tale of the bonds of friendship, the power of language, and the intricacies of the human heart.’ Irish America Review
‘All aspects of the book—characterization, prose, setting and storyline—are in top form, setting this author apart from many who take on a rehash of a well-known and documented historical figure. Lyrical and beautifully written, this story should not be missed by fans of Emily Dickinson, or anyone simply looking for a great historical read.’ Historical Novels Review
‘…Nuala O’Connor’s excellent Miss Emily which gave us a wilful and tormented Emily Dickinson.’ Alex Preston, The Guardian.
‘This accomplished novel is deftly structured. In its economy of scale it may deliberately emulate a Dickinson poem: a great deal happens to Ada, but the action occurs during a single year, and is largely set in one place, indeed mainly in one room – the kitchen in Homestead. The focus on the two main protagonists is firmly maintained. The result is a lyrical and thoroughly readable novel with a compelling storyline.’ Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, The Irish Times
‘This charming novel, full of baking aromas and household hints…as well as darker almost deathly episodes, returns towards the end to a lovely, untamed buoyancy…’ Penny Perrick, Sunday Times
‘…O’Connor is overdue a larger audience for her carefully crafted fiction that gut-punches the reader with its honesty and emotion… the author goes deep into her characters to offer a meditation on the human condition.’ Sarah Gilmartin, The Sunday Business Post
‘Miss Emily gains considerable pace towards its finale, and is a satisfying and enjoyable read from one of Ireland’s more unsung talents, who deserves to make the step to a much wider readership.’ Desmond Traynor, Sunday Independent
BLURB QUOTES, MISS EMILY:
“A superb novel, I was captivated from the first page. With gorgeous, compelling period detail and graceful prose, Nuala O’Connor reimagines a friendship between one of our greatest poets and her Irish maid. With uncanny insight into the expected portrayal of a servant-mistress relationship, and in keeping with the power and beauty of Dickinson’s poetry, O’Connor celebrates her women with great delicacy and exuberance.”—Kathleen Grissom, bestselling author of The Kitchen House
“I read this wonderful novel in a gulp. Nuala O’Connor is a gifted storyteller with a poet’s eye for detail. We are offered a tantalizing glimpse into the private life of one of America’s greatest poets, but for me, the real triumph is the character of Ada, Emily’s young Irish maid. It’s Ada who is the heart of this novel. She’s as beautifully realized as the gingerbread she so meticulously bakes with Emily. I can’t wait to read what O’Connor writes next.”—Natasha Solomons, New York Times bestselling author of The House at Tyneford
“Beautifully written and utterly compelling, this vivid portrait of Emily Dickinson examines her humanity, complexity and profound relationship with words. Told in her own eloquent voice and that of her trusted maid, Miss Emily deftly braids together the stories of two intriguing women in this highly accomplished novel.” —Cathy Marie Buchanan, New York Times bestselling author of The Painted Girls
“Nuala O’Connor’s Miss Emily is evocative, thought-provoking, and beautifully rendered; a poignant portrait of two very different women, drawn together in unlikely friendship by a common strength of spirit and mind. Readers will delight in this richly imagined glimpse into the worlds–both inner and outer–of the immortal Emily Dickinson. I wanted to race through the novel, and yet, the language was so engrossing that I forced myself to slow down, just enough to savor each sentence.” —Allison Pataki, New York Times bestselling author of The Traitor’s Wife and The Accidental Empress
“Miss Emily is a triumph of a novel, creating an utterly human and believable Emily Dickinson through the eyes of an enchanting and complex fictional Irish woman. Their story is smart and witty and harrowing and brilliantly revelatory of the interplay of life and inspiration in a nascent great artist. And all this is done in prose that has the same condensed, particularizing power of Dickinson’s poetry. Nuala O’Connor has long been one of my favorite contemporary Irish writers. She will certainly find an ardently admiring American audience with this extraordinary novel.”—Pulitzer Prize-winning authorRobert Olen Butler
“A jewel of a novel, Miss Emily by Nuala O’Connor is a fascinating, heartfelt, and captivating glimpse into the mind and heart of Emily Dickinson, one of America’s most beloved poets, interwoven with the story of her spirited, witty, and devoted Irish maid, Ada. With its luminous prose and sympathetic, realistically drawn characters, you will feel yourself irresistibly drawn into Emily’s and Ada’s private worlds with every turn of the page.”—Syrie James, bestselling author of Jane Austen’s First Love and The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen
“Like a Dickinson poem, Miss Emily seems at first a simple story of friendship, but gradually reveals itself as a profound meditation on the human condition. O’Connor accomplishes this unfolding, just as Dickinson did, with her exquisite use of language. I lost myself in the beautiful detail of 1860s Amherst, a cast of characters that leapt off the page with life, and the constant reminder that words, properly wielded, can transcend time, transmit love, and, above all, inspire hope.”—Charlie Lovett, New York Times bestselling author of The Bookman’s Tale
“Secrets will always out. In the same way as Emily Dickinson’s poems were once the best kept secret in Massachusetts, Nuala O’Connor’s luminous prose has long been one of Ireland’s most treasured literary secrets. Now through her superb evocation of 19th century Amherst, an international audience is likely to be held rapt by the sparse lyricism and exactitude of O’Connor’s writing. Through a fusion of historical ventriloquism and imaginative dexterity, O’Connor vividly conjures up – in the real-life Emily Dickenson and the fictional Ada Concannon – two equally unforgettable characters who pulsate with life in this study of the slowly blossoming friendship between a delicate literary recluse and a young Irish emigrant eager to embrace the new world around her.”— Dermot Bolger playwright and author of THE JOURNEY HOME, THE VENICE SUITE among others
Praise for Joyride to Jupiter
‘This blending of wry, caustic irreverence and meditative poignancy is central to the success of O’Connor’s storytelling. The mix is just right: the internal monologues are exactly as long as they need to be; the humour is well-timed and effective. The dramatic moments, of which there are a fair few – including an illicit lesbian dalliance and the murder of a would-be paedophile by his wife – are rendered with unobtrusive deftness.’ The Irish Times
‘O’Connor’s language is clean and conscientious as well as poetic and lyrical, evident in the abstraction of Yellow. The collection exudes a quiet confidence and exercises the exemplary restraint of a seasoned writer who knows when to pull rather than push.’ Sunday Independent
Praise for The Closet of Savage Mementos
‘… the poet’s aesthetic and linguistic sensitivity is evident throughout, from the “liver-dark water” of the Liffey to an unborn child “like a resting trout” in her mother’s womb. She doesn’t flinch when tackling the dark truths of human behaviour, the savage mementos at the heart of family relationships and growing up. Earlier work has drawn comparisons to Edna O’Brien. With her ability to get inside a story, and a writing style that is both lyrical and exact, it is easy to see why.’ The Irish Times
‘This isn’t a story of sparkle and bling; there are no cosy fire-side chats, fun shopping sprees or drunken parties. It is raw, beautiful and compelling, a “must read”.’ The Sunday Independent
‘Compelling and deeply accomplished, The Closet of Savage Mementos is the product of a powerful literary talent.’ The Evening Echo
‘It is difficult to write sex well, but Ní Chonchúir manages to strike a delicate balance between passion and poetry.’ The Sunday Business Post
Praise for Mother America (short stories)
‘I’m going through this [book] slowly, reluctant to leave its atmosphere of blended light and shadow.’ Helen Oyeyemi, The Guardian
‘…Ní Chonchúir, like Frida Kahlo, documents female lives in ripe, uncompromising detail. I was also reminded of Edna O’Brien to whose groundbreaking work most Irish women writers owe a debt. Ní Chonchúir’s precisely made but deliciously sensual stories mark her as a carrier of the flame.’ The Irish Times
‘…the prose is measured and graceful, rich with delectable turns of phrase and vivid descriptions that seem to paralyse time…Over the past decade, Miss Ní Chonchúir has proven herself a prolific and diverse talent.’ The Irish Examiner
Praise for YOU (novel)
‘…You deserves to find a place in our pantheon of much-admired, beautifully crafted variations on a theme.’ The Irish Times
‘…timeless, placeless and universal… a must read.’ The Irish Independent