The Countenance Divine

The Countenance Divine is never less than superbly stimulating. It is a debut of high ambition that marks the arrival of a considerable talent * Guardian *
An intriguing broth of a first novel . . . The author swoops between four centuries with considerable chutzpah . . . Hughes is thoroughly in control of his material * The Times *
Sumptuous . . . A gloriously extravagant novel. Strange yet compelling * Irish Examiner *
Wonderfully ambitious . . . There is real pleasure to be derived from Hughes's imagination, especially his instinct for tactile description . . . a novel of the spirit made flesh, pulsating with blood and guts * Times Literary Supplement *
Michael Hughes writes like a brilliant cross between David Mitchell and Hilary Mantel * Toby Litt *
A fascinating chimera of a novel, hallucinatory and compelling * Jo Baker *
The Countenance Divine moves effortlessly from deadpan humour and visceral demotic to the soaring language of the visionary. An ambitious and persuasive debut * Rupert Thomson *
A virtuoso performance from a writer of quite prodigious gifts: an astonishingly accomplished first novel * Glenn Patterson *
A strange, witty and dazzlingly clever fable on art, ambition and morality -- Sarah Perry * Guardian *
A novel of big ideas that flows, and reads, like a dream. Solid yet sinuous, and very satisfying * Gavin Corbett *
This is an intricate and densely allusive novel . . . It marks the arrival of a considerable talent * Guardian *