Packed with emotional intensity - * Sunday Times *

A writer of huge ability . . . Brings to mind John Williams's resurrected masterpiece, Stoner - * Guardian *

To recount a life story in a novel is a difficult task. To do so with brevity and unsentimental honesty takes greatness. Academy Street is a powerful and emotional novel from one of literature's finest new voices -- JOHN BOYNE

An exceptional first novel - * The Times *

With extraordinary devotion, Mary Costello brings to life a woman who would otherwise have faded into oblivion -- J.M. COETZEE

Mary Costello's writing has the kind of urgency that the great problems demand - call them themes; they are the kind of problems that make a writer -- ANNE ENRIGHT - * Guardian *

Academy Street is understated, graceful and, ultimately, devastating. Even as my heart was breaking I couldn't put the book down -- DONAL RYAN, author of The Spinning Heart

Intensely moving but never sentimental, Academy Street is a profound meditation on what Faulkner called 'the human heart in conflict with itself'. In Tess Lohan, Mary Costello has created one of the most fully realised characters in contemporary fiction. What a marvel of a book -- RON RASH

Costello proves herself an absolute master in Academy Street - * Independent *

A novel where the interior life on an ordinary woman is delineated with artistry and grace - * Metro *