The Visitor

An astonishing miniature masterpiece.

-- Nuala O'Faolain

a new-found masterpiece…Only in the work of Emily Dickinson can the same ferocious vision – of love, pain, transgression and death – and economy of expression be found.

* The Guardian *

This early work by the respected writer never flinches from its exploration of the destructive power of family pride and anger. Brennan’s restrained but touching evocation of a young woman whose heart has been wrung dry and who thereafter is condemned to permanent exile is permeated with outrage and sorrow.

* Publishers Weekly *

She is constantly alert, sharp-eyed as a sparrow for the crumbs of human event, the overheard and the glimpsed and the guessed-at.

-- John Updike

Hope, generosity and sexual passion glitter like small jewels in Maeve Brennan’s devastating story of a chilly, tight-lipped Dublin. A perfect introduction to her work.

-- Angela Bo