The Testament of Mary

Colm Tóibín was born in Enniscorthy in 1955. He is the author of nine novels including The Master, Brooklyn, The Testament of Mary and Nora Webster and, most recently, House of Names. His work has been shortlisted for the Booker three times, won the Costa Novel Award and the Impac Award. He has also published two collections of stories and many works of non-fiction. He lives in Dublin.

Beguiling and deeply intelligent...In a single passage - and in a rendition, furthermore, of one of the most famous passages of western literature - Toibin shows how the telling and the details are all-important. -- Robert Collins Sunday Times Toibin's weary Mary, sceptical and grudging, reads as far more true and real than the saintly perpetual virgin of legend. And Toibin is a wonderful writer: as ever, his lyrical and moving prose is the real miracle. -- Naomi Alderman Observer This is a flawless work, touching, moving and terrifying. -- Linda Grant New Statesman There is a profound ache throughout this little character study, a steely determination coupled with an unbearable loss. Although it has some insightful things to say about religion and the period - the descriptions of the Crucifixion are visceral - it has a universal message about the nature of loss. -- Stuart Kelly Scotland on Sunday This novel is the Virgin's version of the life of Christ. After a lifetime listening to everyone else's versions of that life, she is angry and frustrated because they are all questionable. Irish Independent Toibin has created an impressive work of religious imagination...haunting, highly original. TLS Beautifully crafted The Times Fearsomely strange, deeply thoughtful Guardian With deceptively modest prose, Toibin presents the Virgin Mary's story as one of human loss rather than salvation. By doing so he gives us a Mary to identify with rather than venerate. Metro Daring and very moving -- John Banville "Books of the Year", Irish Times The Testament of Mary, a novella of absences and silences, achieves a shimmering power -- Joseph O'Connor Irish Times, "Books of the Year" Toibin's take on the most famous mother in history ... is all too believable Financial Times, "Books of the Year"

Beguiling and deeply intelligent...In a single passage - and in a rendition, furthermore, of one of the most famous passages of western literature - Tóibín shows how the telling and the details are all-important. Robert Collins Sunday Times