'Every bit as evocative and spellbinding as Hamnet. O'Farrell, thank God, just seems to be getting better and better . . . O'Farrell's writing is so vivid it melts away the time and space between now and 16th-century Italy . . . With The Marriage Portrait, then, O'Farrell hasn't just produced another magnificently transporting page-turner. She has given us an exhilarating, devastating look at women's captivity, creativity and ultimately, rebellion in a world run by some very cruel men'
- i Newspaper
'Finely written and vividly imagined, it is far from being simplistic, but there is an engaging simplicity to it . . . a very good one to be read, as publishers used to say, by "children of all ages'
- Guardian Book of the Day
'In O'Farrell's hands, historical detail comes alive . . . evocative, moving and sensitively rendered'
- Spectator
'O'Farrell is simply outstanding'
- Guardian
'Her writing is exquisite. Immersive and compelling'
- Marian Keyes
'An extraordinary writer with a profound understanding of the most elemental human bonds'
- Observer
'One of the most exciting novelists alive'
- Washington Post
'Ingenious, inventive, humane, wry, truthful . . . better than her last novel'br /> - Scotsman
'Her narrative enchantment will wrest suspense and surprise out of a death foretold'
- Financial Times