[An] impressively confident debut … Maurice Hannigan emerges as an engaging, compassionate creation

Anne Griffin’s debut novel is a must read. Beautifully observed, masterful story telling – stunning!

Griffin is a magical storyteller whose prose is effortless and clear. She conjures an intimate, poignant and ultimately enthralling portrait of a man who has battled loneliness and other demons throughout his life. Maurice is superbly well-realised: a character who tries to make amends and, in so doing, cracked my heart.

A book to savour, and pass on. An absolute joy

A hugely enjoyable, engrossing novel, a genuine page-turner.

Maurice Hannigan is a wonderful invention, whose bitter-sweet meditations will stay long in the reader’s mind. Anne Griffin has fashioned a rare jewel.

This is how you tell a story

[Anne Griffin] builds a remarkably rich sense of place, while also tracing the wider changes affecting Ireland. …Maurice is a lovingly rendered example of the current vogue for characters who have fallen through the cracks

Beautifully written, unhurried and thoughtful, and a character you love from the off.

As candid a portrait of human frailty as you’re likely to find. Griffin is uncannily accurate in her depiction of that peculiarly Irish emotional paralysis we’re all familiar with.

Pitch-perfect prose … Moving and beautifully written, this is a wonderfully assured debut.

A proper tear-jerker, but one that will ultimately leave you feeling hopeful

A warm and wise treasure of a book with a character whose voice draws you in from the start

A rich and moving story, a poetic voice and unforgettable character in Maurice

It’s all beautifully done; a tale told in the plain but poetic prose of a man who recognises the tragic truths gleaned from a life of love and loss. A gem of a book

This could be one of the big book hits of 2019

An atmospheric debut … The most impressive aspects of this first novel are its rich, flowing prose, its convincing voice and its imaginative and clever structure … Griffin is a welcome arrival to the literary scene

Griffin’s strength is in voice and in the rhythm of her prose … She is excellent at interrogating the complexity of Maurice’s barriers

A rich, fluid debut novel

A heartfelt and impressive debut novel

Poetic and touching without being sentimental, When All Is Said by Anne Griffin is something special.

An emotional yet uplifting novel – we defy you not to fall in love with Maurice Hannigan and his heart-warming story.

Will stay with you long after you close the cover

Beautifully written, this is a feast of Irish storytelling

A powerful page-turner … wonderfully poetic, atmospheric and moving.

When All Is Said captures the texture of a night catching up with an old friend – the pleasures and comforts, the stories and surprises – one that you never want to end, and all the more bittersweet because you know, of course, that it must.

Maurice Hannigan is one of those rare and unforgettable characters whose lives we enter, inhabit for a time all too brief, and emerge from deeply changed. Anne Griffin is a writer with a bright, bright future.

A warm and nourishing story from a writer of much promise.

Griffin’s debut is a beautiful and poignant page-turner.

A fine literary debut from a writer I’m sure we’ll hear more from

Superb … incredibly moving without ever straying into sentiment

[Maurice’s] story will make you laugh and cry – When All Is Said is a wonderful debut novel from Anne Griffin. She says she “wanted to write a damn good story”. She has succeeded beyond her dreams.

When All Is Said tells the tale of an imperfect man who you will not be able to forget.

A beautifully written, perfectly paced, heartfelt novel

Tissues at the ready for what is a confident yet carefully written debut . . . I adored it. Utterly recommended.

Achingly poignant and wryly funny, Irish author Anne Griffin’s luminous debut is a celebration of stolen joy and lost opportunities

A heart-warming, heart-breaking and poignant debut of rare power.

Griffin’s stunning debut, brimming with irresistible Irish-isms, is an elegy to love, loss and the complexity of life.

An accomplished debut. A sensitive layered description of grief and regret . . . excellent

Beautifully realized

A portrait of a life in which revenge, love, loss, and misunderstanding all play their part . . . This is a wonderful piece of story-telling that is intimate, compassionate and extraordinarily assured.

Anne Griffin’s first novel has taken Ireland by storm . . . Immediate, often funny, sometimes dark and, on occasion, devastatingly sad.

Nearly 40 years of publishing has made me a cynical reviewer of books, but, oh my god, it’s impossible to be churlish about discovering such a fabulous and unforgettable character. A one-hit wonder this is not

A gentle tale of an irascible Irish farmer, who spends the last day of his life toasting the five people who have meant the most to him- sure to move even the stoniest of hearts

There is something special here . . . The next big name to emerge from the Irish writing scene.

An ingenious narrative

In the twilight of his long and eventful life, Irishman Maurice Hannigan still possesses the deep and mellow voice that his grandmother once told him ‘could melt icebergs-a voice that debut author Anne Griffin renders with wit, verve, and endearing irascibility. When All Is Said captures the texture of a night catching up with an old friend–the pleasures and comforts, the stories and surprises-one that you never want to end, and all the more bittersweet because you know, of course, that it must.

Maurice Hannigan is one of those rare and unforgettable characters whose lives we enter, inhabit for a time all too brief, and emerge from deeply changed. Anne Griffin is a writer with a bright, bright future.

Taken Ireland by storm . . . Immediate, often funny, sometimes dark and, on occasion, devastatingly sad.

It was a masterstroke to get one of the greatest living Irish character actors (and there’s stiff competition) to voice Maurice Hannigan … Better than on the page.