Where Have You Been?

A masterclass display of versatility...mood and style in these richly concise, crisply written pieces are confidently varied, too...adding vitality to the virtuosity is a terrific ear for idiomatic speech * Sunday Times Books of the Year *
O’Connor’s first collection of short stories for 20 years reasserts a mastery of the form... An exhilarating array of sharp dialogue and biting one-liners... A fine compassionate collection * Irish Independent *
Full of lovely, delicate perceptive stuff. Joseph O'Connor is in the tradition of masterly Irish writers of short fiction * The Scotsman *
Joseph O'Connor's first short story collection in more than 20 years is worth the wait -- Emma Hagestadt * Independent *
Playful but also at times sorrowful; it allows in great quantities of life, offering the dramas at times a dark edge but also the full glory of our earthly confusion. -- Colm Toibin * Irish Times *
O’Connor handles poignancy and melancholy with such assurance -- Alastair Mabbott * Herald *
Superb – very moving and also very sharp… O’Connor has a lovely touch for the nuances of important moments -- William Leith * Evening Standard *
Some mischievous, caustically funny stories alongside those with a more melancholy spirit * Daily Telegraph *
Subtle and beautiful, poignant and perceptive... A fabulous assortment, that will move its readers both to tears and to laughter * Good Book Guide *
The seven short stories and one titular novella in this collection are studies of pained love, bereavement, mental disturbance, suicide, economic hardship and thwarted ambition. But this is not a bleak book, and the final novella, despite its grim themes of loss and mental illness, ends in wistful harmony. There is a gentleness and a fellow feeling extended to these bruised lives of quiet despair -- Ronan McDonald * Times Literary Supplement *