Bowen's stories show the awesome capabilities of the English language and the surprise and mystery of the human soul

Bowen's stories are novels that have been split open like rocks and reveal the glitter of the naked crystals which have formed them

The absolute master of the twist in the tale

Fox's prose is poised and confident, a well-honed tool with which to treat his delicate subject matter.

The best of these stories are very good indeed ... While there are few happy souls in these arresting stories, the reader can find consolation in Fox's supple prose and frequently subtle insights

Fox joins a band of new talented Irish short story writers, like Colin Barrett and Mary Costello, with this assured debut collection

These are thoughtful, well-told stories that bring home how hard it can be to belong

Impressive ... First-person narrators, their voices deceptively casual and conversational, draw the unsuspecting reader in before they strike. Against a backdrop of ordinary settings and pared-down realism, the arresting images, when they come, have an explosive force

A superb collection ... compassionate and knowing

Outstanding

A remarkable new talent ... He is able to tread so lightly that we only realise we have been cleverly punched in the solar plexus after we finish the last line

Sam Miller's memoir Fathers is ostensibly about a family secret. But its true subject is a family silence… The book is about ways to be a father, but also, more generally, about ways to be a man, from the 1950s to now. Should you be an intellectual, and write letters full of irony and wit? How camp are you allowed to be, or how fearful of homoeroticism? Must you be good at manual labour? Where do you stand in relation to class or entitlement? Should you be more interested in football than you are?

Morrissy has been compared to Joyce and Chekov. She’s brilliant.

Mary Morrissy’s persuasive stories sidle up to you quietly and before you know it have you wrapped up in their embrace… We meet people on the edge… in this resonant collection from an accomplished writer.

An outstanding collection…She is a true heir to Chekhov and the great writers