Review Quotes

"...raw, beautiful and compelling, a 'must read'."

Deirdre Conroy in The Sunday Independent

"...her finest novel yet."

The Sunday Times

"Compelling and deeply accomplished, The Closet of Savage Mementos is the product of a powerful literary talent."

The Evening Echo

"It is difficult to write sex well, but Ní Chonchúir manages to strike a delicate balance between passion and poetry."

The Sunday Business Post

"...this engaging book...this most readable novel."

Irish Independent

Nuala Ní Chonchúir's characters and their relationships have about them that most precious and elusive quality: the ring of truth.'

Gerard Stembridge

[Ní Chonchúir] belongs to the pitiably small breed of female authors who do not prettify sexuality or physicality, and whose characters are fleshly, sensuous creatures as at ease with the rhythms of their bodies as they are with the rhythms of their minds. That’s one thing. The other thing is that she tells good stories, whether writing short fiction or long.

Mary O'Donnell from her blog Medea999

Compelling and deeply accomplished, The Closet of Savage Mementos is the product of a powerful literary talent.

Des Breen Evening Echo

...a book that will appeal to, and deserves, a wide audience.

Sara Keating Sunday Business Post

'...You deserves to find a place in our pantheon of much-admired, beautifully crafted variations on a theme'

Arminta Wallace, The Irish Times

'...timeless, placeless and universal... a must read'

Yvonne Hogan, The Irish Independent

'...a vivid and immediate sensory experience,...Ní Chonchúir's ear - as you might expect of a poet - is alive to the language of her characters...it is about the ordinary, and the secret life that runs beneath it'

Kevin Power, The Sunday Business Post

'The novel flows beautifully and is understated in tone...This gem is sure to win her further acclaim. Nuala Ní Chonchúir is a writer to watch.'

Sue Leonard, The Irish Examiner

'...this novel uses plain prose, vivid detail, fresh images, and the delightful Dublin vernacular. You is a compelling story that brings to life complex characters and delivers hard-hitting truths.'

Ethel Rohan, Pank

'Her prose is both dignifying and empowering to her subjects, and it is her psychological ableness which will mark Ní Chonchúir as a writer of significance.'

Rachel J. Fenton, Melusine

'Ní Chonchúir is an Irish poet whose work is both sensual and provocative, she bares her soul and examines the world around her in visceral and challenging ways.'

Marc Schuster, Small Press Reviews

'Ní Chonchúir's poems possess a quiet self-assurance and the poise of style. She has the Chekhovian eye for detail and a gift for brevity and relevance.'

Cathal Ó Searcaigh, poet

'Ní Chonchúir writes in both Irish and English. Not since Michael Hartnett has there been an Irish poet who works with such facility in both languages.'

POETRY INTERNATIONAL

'Ní Chonchúir has a deft word-touch and is imaginative and resourceful with poetic ideas. [Her] work is vital and often funny and quirky, with a punchy diligence.'

KIOSQUE

'Ní Chonchúir is an Irish poet whose work is both sensual and provocative, she bares her soul and examines the world around her in visceral and challenging ways.'

Marc Schuster, Small Press Reviews

'To The World of Men, Welcome, her second collection, has an air of professionalism and competence, which is the least she deserves: she is a real writer. Prevailing theme of these sixteen pieces is how relationships break up, and they are brimming with sensuality, art, secrets and loss. A Pauline Bewick painting is used on the jacket and depicts what not many publishers would allow on their jackets but like Ní Chonchúir's work, it is done so beautifully that nobody could take offence.'

BOOKS IRELAND

'A bright and fresh collection of short stories exploring the promises and disappointments of love and relationships, this is a slightly and delightfully irreverent book full of female sensitivity and humour. The stories are bright and yet carry a deep sense of reality that brings the reader down to earth now and then. The economic use of language leaves as much unsaid as said and adds another level to the quality of the book.'

DESI KENNY, KENNY'S BOOK SHOP

'Ní Chonchúir's gift with story-telling goes beyond the flat visuals of words on paper and describes an individual world in each story. In her second collection of short stories, she establishes herself as a writer who is committed to peeling back the veneer of ordinary lives to display the sometimes unfathomable choices people make and the collaborative cruelty in love relationships.'

AMAZON.COM

'beautifully crafted. The language is often a joy to absorb' 'the descriptions of landscapes were superb.'

IRISH BOOK REVIEW

'To The World of Men, Welcome is so packed with life that when it came to its end it felt like being thrown out of a good party. These are strong stories and Ní Chonchúir has definitely found her feet.'

PAT JOURDAN, AUTHOR

'I have always felt that poets are more alive than other people, that they see exquisite and painful detail in even the most mundane and neglected parts of life. Nuala Ní Chonchúir epitomises the poet/writer who uses the intensity of her poetry skills in prose to produce, in The Wind Across the Grass, sensualist microcosms of love, life and love gone astray. Here is a sharp but compassionate eye that can make us believe that these strange and wonderful characters breathe, hope and suffer....A good writer, like any good artist, should perturb and make us think. So with this criteria, she fully deserves all accolades accorded to her.'

Julia Bohanna, The Short Review

'Look for some big things to come from Galway's Ní Chonchúir. She has such a diversity of work and can say so much in just a few words that it's obvious she's also an award-winning poet. Her stories are filled with very astute observations, some humorous, some sad.'

THE READERVILLE JOURNAL

'At long last there is a writer to rival [Mike] McCormack in the short story genre.'

THE CITY TRIBUNE, GALWAY

'There is passion, mythology and raw human experience. Reading Nuala Ní Chonchúir, you learn that your life is reflected in what she sees. It is this quiet invading honesty of her words that makes her writing real.'

THE GALWAY ADVERTISER

'[T]here is bright assessment here as Nuala Ní Chonchúir deftly sketches in her surroundings. Then emotions sweep in, deeper, unsettling. But confidence and intelligence are central in all [of her] writing, creating a safety net. She searches like a lighthouse, picking out the unusual.'

WOMEN'S STUDIES REVIEW

'[The Wind Across the Grass] is a rewarding collection.'

BOOKS IRELAND

'Nuala Ní Chonchúir's short story 'The Queen of All Ireland' beautifully captures the child's voice and perspective.'

NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL

'This is a memorable first collection from the award-winning writer, the short stories leave a lasting impression on the mind of the reader.'

IRISH EMIGRANT

'[There is a] refreshing novelty to some of Ní Chonchúir's work, which shows every sign, already formidable and clear and strong, of developing into memorable poetry.'

BOOKS IRELAND

'She writes with economy, lending strength and intensity to her poetry's delicate observations. Ní Chonchúir's poems are confident, grounded in place, full of familial personalities and relationships, always gleaning the full verve of their ambit.'

THE BURNING BUSH

'Nuala Ní Chonchúir works on the economy of language, the sentiments in poems like 'Mother' enchanting in their simplicity.'

WESTMEATH INDEPENDENT