"[A] wondrous new novel. . .Alice McDermott is a genius of quiet observation. . .Like Jane Austen, McDermott, one of our finest novelists writing today, is the master of a domain that in the hands of most writers would be limiting. . .Child of My Heart extends her artistic triumphs, and we should be grateful." –Los Angeles Times Book Review
"A master. . .As good as any literary novelist writing today, and when I say that I include the big guns: Russell Banks, Philip Roth, Toni Morrison. . .All her books mirror the essential truths of existence so sure-handedly that they are neither comedies nor tragedies, but merely true." –
Anna Quindlen "Has something of a classic about it. . .[Its] craftsmanship and its moral intelligence are as one. . ..Immaculate." –
The New York Times Book Review "Richly textured, intricately woven. . .a work not only of, but about, the imagination." –
Margaret Atwood, New York Review of Books "In a league of her own." –
People "We have echoes and stirrings of Hardy, Shakespeare, Dickens, James, Beatrix Potter, Christina Rosetti... [Theresa] is a vessel containing a multitude of heroines, a transcendence of ethereal beauties who loved and live in the minds of their readers and inventors." –
Chicago Tribune "[A] quietly enchanting novel, graced by McDermott's well-calibrated writing and observant eye...Filled with subtle truths and hard-won wisdom." –
The Charlotte Observer