'Donoghue's prose is beautiful and beautifully controlled. Simply and without a shred of sentimentality, she evokes a relationship that is convincing and exquisitely touching.'
- The Guardian
'The historical setting comes alive in glorious detail . . . over the course of this enthralling novel.'
- The Irish Times
'Offers a refreshing perspective on a celebrated figure in LGBTQ+ history'
- Sunday Express
'A slow burning love story of first love. The girls do not so much discover love as feel they are inventing it.'
- The Times Literary Supplement
'An exquisite coming-of-age love story'
- The Times, 'Historical Fiction Book of the Month'
'Spellbinding . . . A moving portrait of two young women who are willing to risk everything for love'
- Independent
'A richly imagined novelistic account of a 19th century love affair'
- Vogue
'A fascinating . . . love story that's both queer and multiracial'
- The Washington Post
'A master of plot'
- Time
'A writer of great vitality and generosity'
- The New Yorker
'Set against a vividly realised 1800s England, this spellbinding novel is a stunning character exploration that will move even the steeliest of readers.'
- Armistead Maupin, Attitude
'Donoghue has created a gripping story of the blistering connection between Anne and Eliza Raine . . . This is richly told and built on meticulous research.'
- Sainsbury's Magazine
'Emma Donoghue's writing is superb alchemy'
- Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife
'Donoghue delights in the intensity of girlhood . . . The book wears its painstaking research like the light shifts the schoolgirls sleep in.'
- Financial Times
'Donoghue is a superb stylist - her prose is stirring and tender'
- The Sunday Times
'She can do everything: be funny, be moving, be unflinching yet sensitive, write beautifully nuanced sentences and utterly gripping stories. She can write powerful historical fiction and be absolutely contemporary. And she's unable to write a line you don't believe'
- Joseph O'Connor, author of Star of the Sea
'Emma Donoghue is a genius of compassion. With her, the ethical imagination is always paramount. In our fractured world she brings a great sense of repair to us all. Her stories bind us back together'
- Colum McCann, internationally bestselling author of Let the Great World Spin