A fine companion piece to his acclaimed novel, Brooklyn . . . Mixing irony and nostalgia in its portrayal of a provincial Irish town. Subtle and enthralling

Tóibín's measured prose and close attention to emotional nuance is shown at its best here

This is his best yet. The ache of a widow's grief is rendered with such an unadorned intensity that you might not think the book could be entertaining too, but it is

A clear-sighted yet sympathetic portrait of a woman destabilised by grief

So rich, so observant, so moving

Tender, delicately oblique in its narration, and exquisitely well-written

A luminous, elliptical novel in which everyday life manages, in moments, to approach the mystical . . . There is much about Nora Webster that we never know. And her very mystery is what makes her regeneration, when it comes, feel universal

Beautiful and heartbreaking. It's so richly detailed and laced with such dialogue that you feel like you are living in Nora's world

Arresting. As this novel movingly proposes, there are no ordinary women and no ordinary lives

The story is so expertly crafted that it achieves a luminous intensity, which lingers long in the memory

This novel deserves to be read as closely as Nora listens to Beethoven. It leaves you with much to ponder . . . Our bond with the Websters makes us imagine they're out there, living and longing, with fire crackling in their hearth

[A] love story and a love letter . . . from one of Ireland's contemporary masters

This very readable novel undercuts the cliches of misery fiction . . . Tóibín's great weapon in this regard is Nora's genuine agency as a character. Both she and the novel which bears her name are defined by what has come before, this is true, both both are more interested in moving forward than being caught in the past

This novel is the real thing, rare and tremendous . . . It does everything we ought to ask of a great novel: that it respond to the fullness of our lives, be as large as life itself

A work of extraordinary achievement. In Nora Webster the slow build-up of pressure, the sense of pain experienced and barely withstood, is cumulatively almost unbearable, and the climax provides a catharsis that raises the hairs on the back of your head. The novel at once takes it place with the very best of Tóibín's fiction

In plain and unsentimental prose, Colm Tóibín has created a character who, in her recently widowed state, must find her way through life for herself and her children. Deftly depicting the self-confined world of Nora and her boys, Tóibín provokes sympathy from the reader, but also unexpected feelings of frustation as Nora dwells on the death of a husband who cushioned her against the realities of life. As haunting as Hedda Gabler, Tóibín's latest offering a triumphant addition to his canon. The relatable voice of Nora Webster will remain with the reader long after the story has ended

Nora Webster is a beautiful and heartbreaking portrayal of one woman's experience of depression and loneliness. But it also evokes the protagonist's struggle to find - and express - her own voice and identity. Quietly perceptive and [a] wonderfully modulated portrayal . . . It's so richly detailed and laced with such dialogue that you feel like you are living in Nora's world. Very moving

Moving, honest and truthful, this is a masterful depiction of the grief process

Beautifully told

Tóibín is a master at evoking emotions with particular sensitivity . . . This is a beguiling story that envelops readers like Irish mist. The slow unhurried narrative keeps pace with Nora's grief and changing emotions. By the time she is ready to cut the last ties to her husband, Tóibín has woven the complex threads of family life into a portrait of a much-loved woman

A moving masterpiece. Tóibín really plumbs the heart of his characters

As elegantly and delicately wrought as gossamer . . . What makes Nora Webster so intriguing is the author's complex and nuanced attitudes both to the period and his characters

Once again Colm Tóibín proves he knows women perhaps better than we know ourselves in this quietly devastating portrait of a grieving widow's tortoise-like re-emergence into the world. Tóibín provides a seductive narrative, moments of levity and an entirely honest portrayal of a woman struggling to simply be herself and rebuild her life

If there is a more brilliant writer than Tóibín working today, I don't know who that would be

Tyler tenderly unwinds the skein of three generations... deeply beguiling

A beautiful book

I’m sure I won’t be the only one torn between savouring it and racing to the end

The writing is beautiful, unshowy, spare yet bountiful, the distilled style of a long lifetime of creating great novels

Anne Tyler writes so gracefully, you almost don’t realise she is writing at all

The story is so absorbing, and characters so real that while you race to finish it, you also really don't want it to end

So subtle, so amusing and real, it's like watching their lives happen in front of you

A master of conversation [Anne Tyler] depicts the intimacies and irritations of family life, the exchanged, complicit lances and misunderstandings. Read this

One of the finest novelists of modern times

Glorious

A new Anne Tyler novel is always a cause for celebration... effortlessly enthralling

One of America's literary giants

A quiet sense of emotional tragedy, sharp observational humour and writing so economically precise you long to read every sentence twice

Anne Tyler’s twentieth novel has all the hallmarks of the well-loved author’s best work – wonderful observation, intricate detail, nuanced humour and, of course, a family whose shared stories and secrets define them

This is [Anne Tyler’s] best in years

Love may be many splendoured but, in this novel, we also see its smothering, suffocating side, as well as its tyrannous sway – and only a writer of Tyler’s skill could transform that into such an undiluted delight

The worlds she creates are so absorbing and believable; she taps into our innate curiosity about people just like ourselves

What she does, in the course of this novel, is show that the simplest family stories often have complex roots and unlikely outcomes. This is a book full of surprises, and Tyler is adept at the great revelation that both startles and throws what has come before into a whole new light

A stunning novel about family life which just rings so true – it depicts the bonds and the tensions, the love and the exasperation beautifully

A warm, wise and funny book

A believable and wise read

The texture of everyday experience transmuted into art

[A] wonderful book

There is no limit to the superlatives that Tyler inspires

With A Spool of Blue Thread, the Pulitzer Prize winning novelist is on typically fine form

‘[Tyler’s] latest book…is as effortlessly enthralling on the familial front as her previous 19

Sincerely and carefully told

This is a book that explores moral and psychological ambiguities with extraordinary subtlety

A Spool of Blue Thread does an exquisite job

The real triumph here is [Tyler’s] portrayal of old age – droll, and desperately sad.

This novel…has lavish strengths

Love…is relayed with extraordinary skill by Tyler

It’s Tyler at her witty, truthful best

Tyler takes the minute details of everyday life…and makes them remarkable

This is a novel to cherish

Wonderful new novel

I loved this book and knew I would as soon as I saw the author’s name… I shall read this book many times

Tyler…writes movingly of the early stages of dementia and its fierce denial

A truly delightful read

[Anne Tyler’s] usual pithy observations on life and strong storytelling combine beautifully

You close the book feeling you’ve been privy to a family that is quite extraordinary

Ms. Tyler has a knack for turning sitcom situations into something far deeper and more moving

It takes organized wit to write about human muddle as Tyler does, without once losing our attention or the narrative’s spool of blue thread

A moving, well-crafted reflection on life and death and the relationships that sustain us through both

How can it be so wonderful!... Tyler remains among the best chroniclers of family life

Astonishingly adept

Tyler describes so accurately the frailties, turmoil and love of family life

No one does family sagas quite like Anne Tyler

Mundane yet magical, thus pure Tyler

Anne Tyler paints a large-scale portrait on a small-scale canvas and does it beautifully

In many ways this novel is a culmination of all those that have gone before it; it combines a multitude of themes and never fails to exact humour alongside the more sombre task of delving into topical issues such as sexuality, relationships and ageing

Absolutely wonderful, a work of genius

It's so rich in detail and reality, so simple, but so compelling. I wept

Engaging, compassionate, insightful… Tyler's strengths here are on the detail and the mundane. She gently weaves a rich tapestry of family life with a generosity of spirit that never a spills into sentimentality’

Tyler’s skill lies in making the utterly everyday something special

This novel was an absolute joy as a personal read and whilst there are surely many spools of thread (sorry!) to unpick in reading group discussion, I can’t help but feel that readers will find the greatest enjoyment with this book in the quiet, personal introspection of their own experience of it

Is as good as anything she has ever written

Another insightful study of family life. It may be familiar territory for the writer, but she commands it absolutely

One to read on a family holiday

Tyler at her best… Like all Tyler’s work, this book is hard to put down, often laugh out loud funny and every word rings true: reading it requires no effort at all and yet the rewards are endless

Tyler’s ability to combine carefully chosen characters, an open writing style and universally relatable themes makes her work so popular and…timeless. No wonder everyone is celebrating her 50-year career, to which I can only add my wholehearted recommendation of this novel with a full five stars out of five

She gives us a better sense than anyone else of what it’s like to be part of a family

Her gift for producing what seems less like fiction than actuality works wonders

Heartwarming

beautifully written… a really good family saga

Anne Tyler has the power to make the most ordinary observations enthralling
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Highly reccommended

Her extraordinary gift for producing what seems less like fiction than actuality works wonders again… magnificent.

May be her best yet, though, to be honest, this is what I always tend to say after reading the latest Anne Tyler.

Superbly accomplished, perceptive and funny, tugged forward by suspended revelations to its hurricane climax

Tyler has captured the characters of an “ordinary” family brilliantly

[Tyler] writes so sparingly and yet her books are dense with the complexities of human emotions

Pure pleasure

[Tyler] has the rapier wit of a true satirist

Tyler’s gift for producing what seems less like fiction than absorbing actuality is everywhere in evidence as characters all but elbow their way off the page with lifelikeness. Beneath the surface darker depths are discernible, and awareness of human transience generates comedy and melancholy. Atmospherically rendered, the passage of time has both entertaining and heart-rendering results. She has never written with more finesse, vitality and acuteness

Somehow what’s familiar seems transcended in this wonderful novel, infused with freshness and surprise

Anyone after a good novel will find themselves endlessly delighted by Anne Tyler’s miraculously deft and touching family saga

Reminded us that Anne Tyler… can write a barbed family saga that puts younger imitators to shame

Funny and brutally frank in its portrayal in an averagely messy family and the degree to which accident contributed to the formation of its history…Tyler…Is a master technician

Anne Tyler is a magician: what she does seems so simple and et it weaves a compelling spell

Utterly absorbing, heartbreaking and endearing

Tyler explores the simmering resentment that often underpins familial relationships, as well as the elusive nature of the American Dream

The characters in Anne Tyler’s A Spool of Blue Thread are s fully formed I felt I was reading a family album. There is poetry in the way Tyler writes about mundane family life. When the book ended, I felt alone

A book that is shot through with random misfortune, but which takes infinite pleasure in the detail of everyday family life.

Rivalries flare between siblings and secrets unravel, as Tyler shines a brilliant light on our fundamental relationships and the span of life.

Since the characters are actual, flawed human beings, it makes the story unbelievably relatable.

One of the greatest storytellers alive, whose characters arrive on the page like human beings, things happen to them, they react to these things, and then life continues

A Spool of Blue Thread…adroitly shines a light on sibling rivalry, family secrets and the wounding power of grief… [and] demonstrates again her gift for comic detail

A stunning novel about three generations of a family that perfectly captures the fights, petty irritations and deep connections between them