“Pick a colour (my favourite is blue). Pick a fabric (okay, silk). Sprinkle it with your favourite fragrance (mine is Light Blue by D&G, no kidding!) Draw the material to you, inhale, clutch it to your face and neck. How does it make you feel? Good, isn't it? That's how I felt while reading Blue Mercy by Orna Ross… There's a twist in the tale. In fact, there are two twists. If you see them coming you're more perceptive than I was… I wish, can only hope, that one day I'll be able to write like her.” BUILD ANOTHER BOOKCASE
“Ross's verse is technically brilliant, emotionally beguiling and, at times, startling.” Kaleem Raja, THE VIEW FROM HERE
“I don't often beg authors for a review copy of their book but having read Orna's debut novel, I made an exception for this book [and it ] is even more skilful as the past and the present are seamlessly interwoven… I thought at first that I would not warm to Izzy's daughter, Star – some of the footnotes which she's added to her mother's story are terse (or worse) – but the splendid and most unexpected ending put everything into place.
This isn't a short read, or even an easy read, but it is infinitely rewarding… Pull the delicate strands of the relationships and see how the present mirrors the past, see how history repeats itself. It's superb.” THEBOOKBAG.CO.UK
“A hauntingly captivating read.” SUNDAY INDEPENDENT
“An incredible literary debut that will have the reader absolutely enthralled.”
“Puts culpable, fragile flesh and blood—lots of blood—on a defining moment in Irish history… Of particular delight are the many unexpected twists and turns.” SUNDAY INDEPENDENT
“Ransacks the best scholarly sources and ingeniously knits a complex tale of betrayal, revenge, suspense, love — and surprise.” IRISH INDEPENDENT
