The Maker of Swans
Paraic O’Donnell’s first novel, The Maker of Swans, was named the Amazon Rising Stars Debut of the Month for February 2016, and was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards in the Newcomer of the Year category.
Praise for The Maker of Swans
‘Lavishly entertaining…strange and captivating.’
– The Independent
‘At its best, the prose is glorious, combining an ear for deep cadences of language with a phenomenal acuity of vision…O’Donnell is clearly a major talent.’
– The Guardian
‘A vividly imagined and deeply pleasurable gothic fantasy.’
– Financial Times
‘Ambitious and original.’
– The Irish Times
‘Extraordinarily readable…almost cinematic.’
– Irish Independent
‘There’s sufficient invention and engaging strangeness to keep the reader enfolded, though it is O’Donnell’s arresting descriptions of the natural world that are likely to live longest in the mind.’
– Daily Mail
‘A dark, elegant celebration of the power and beauty of words.’
– Sunday Express
‘A powerful thriller.’
– Vogue
‘An oddly beautiful tale of magic and art.’
– The Bookseller
‘Compulsive reading…rich, strange, beautiful.’
– Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk
‘I devoured this book, and it kept me guessing right to the very end. Line by line, Paraic’s writing contains some of the most beautifully turned phrasing I’ve read in a long while.’
– Laura Barnett, author of The Versions of Us
‘Combines through-the-looking-glass enchantment with Nabokovian dexterity…a mesmerising book whose prose absolutely soars.’
– Sandra Newman, author of The Country of Ice Cream Star
‘Exquisite.’
– Liz Nugent, author of Unravelling Oliver
‘Dazzlingly inventive.’
– Jane Casey
Paraic O’Donnell 