Eileen

A sucker punch of a novel, full of fury and disgust, heart-wrenching in places, a masterclass in mood and tone. Eileen is a fantastic creation and a surprisingly satisfying antidote to the dozy and complacent heroines of much so-called literary fiction.

Julie Myerson

An unforgettable new American voice.

Los Angeles Times

The great power of this book…is that Eileen is never simply a literary gargoyle; she is painfully alive and human, and Ottessa Moshfegh writes her with a bravura wildness that allows flights of expressionistic fantasy to alternate with deadpan matter of factness… As a character study, the book is a remarkable tour de force… As an evocation of physical and psychological squalor, Eileen is original courageous and masterful. Moshfegh never panders.

Sandra Newman, Guardian

A seductive novel…Moshfegh writes beautiful sentences. One after the other they unwind – playful, shocking, wise, morbid, witty, searingly sharp. The beginning of this novel is so impressive, so controlled yet whimsical, fresh and thrilling, you feel she can do anything.

New York Times

In the literary world…Ottessa Moshfegh is seen as a comer, perhaps even the Next Big Thing. Eileen is a remarkable piece of writing, always dark and surprising, sometimes ugly and occasionally hilarious… Trust me, you have never read anything remotely like Eileen.

Washington Post

Ottessa Moshfegh has created one of the great characters of recent fiction. Eileen is a modern masterpiece: cruel, grotesquely beautiful and merciless as a hungry wolf finding a lost fawn in the snow.

John Burnside

If Jim Thompson had married Patricia Highsmith – imagine that household – they might have conspired together to dream up something like Eileen. It’s blacker than black and cold as an icicle. It’s also brilliantly realised and horribly funny.

John Banville

Excellent…a taut, well-written, and completely engrossing novel…culminating in a dynamite ending.

Boston Globe

Perverse, squalid and sinister this expertly paced novel … delivers a thumping finish to match the build-up: a single line near the end has the effect of a thunderbolt, leaving us dumbstruck by her sly, almost wicked storytelling genius.

Anthony Cummins, Daily Telegraph