House of Names - Tapa dura

Part of Toibin's success comes down to the power of his writing: an almost unfaultable combination of artful restraint and wonderfully observed detail . . . Unforgettable (Mary Beard New York Times)

A giant amongst storytellers, Toibin has thrown down the gauntlet with his latest novel . . . And it is a masterpiece (Edith Hall Daily Telegraph)

A gorgeous stylist, Tóibín captures the subtle flutterings of consciousness better than any writer alive . . . Never before has Tóibín demonstrated such range, not just in tone but in action. He creates the arresting, hushed scenes for which he's so well known just as effectively as he whips up murders that compete, pint for spilled pint, with those immortal Greek playwrights (Washington Post)

Brilliant retelling of a Greek Tragedy... This is a novel that is a celebration of what novels can do. (Alex Preston Observer)

Considerable Game of Thrones appeal...instead of cheap narrative tricks and resolutions we're left with images of desolation and thwarted love (Financial Times)

A devastatingly human story...savage, sordid and hauntingly believable (Guardian)

The book has a controlled hushed quality, like that of a Morandi still life, which only serves to heighten the terror and pity of the tale (John Banville)

Colm Tóibín turns Greek Myths into flesh and blood..The writing is characteristically elegant, spare and subtle. ..The scenes between Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus darkly sexy (The Times)

An extraordinarily sympathetic and intimate portrait (Literary Review)

In Toibin's careful hands, the story of Clytemnestra, who avenges her daughter after her husband Agamemnon sacrifices her to secure safe passage from Troy, is told with such a vivid grasp of the emotional pulse that even those who know the story well will be transfixed. (Claire Allfree Daily Mail)

Kill the innocent girl in return for a change in the wind. Take her out of the world, use a knife on her flesh to ensure that she would never again walk into a room or wake in the morning. Deprive the world of her grace. And as a reward the gods would make the wind blow in her father's favour on the day he needed wind for his sails against Troy