A Mad and Wonderful Thing - Softcover

'Beneath the passion, wit, and poetry of A Mad and Wonderful Thing is an undertow of tragedy. This is a world where our moral certainties are challenged, where gentle domesticity and sudden violence disrupt our expectations.'

'[R]omance is the mad and wonderful thing that gives the novel its name, but it's not the emotion that drives the plot ... Mulhlland's prose has all the elan of fine conversation after a couple of pints ... the final act is marvellous'

'A fascinating and profound book ― a story of love and brutality and tenderness and death ... A book which stays.'

'Johnny Donnelly is a romantic and a rhetorician ... it's easy to be swept along ... Mulholland has Roddy Doyle’s gift for vernacular ... you'll be there with him to the bitter end.'

'[A] terrific first novel ... Mulholland has pulled off that most difficult of literary quinellas: a serious story, entertainingly told.'

'An emotional, shocking, gorgeous read, rooted in such painful reality ... a magnetic and lyrical read.'

‘Excellent. Deeply satisfying and moving ... Ireland has a new and exciting voice.’

'A great read ... it deserves to do well.'

'This markedly ambitious first novel is one to reckon with.'

'The real central character in this book is Ireland. Mulholland apparently effortlessly conjures up the country through its history, myths and legends, its landscape and The Troubles of the 1990s, during which the novel is set ... Evocative and lyrically written.'