Shade

Book by Jordan Neil

Extraordinary ... an enormously powerful book. I'd stake a bet it'll win him prizes (Daily Telegraph)

He recreates the drained landscape with the vivid care of a Dutch painting, and infuses it with longing ... Powerfully visual (The Observer)

Shade is a beautifully written book, and is constructed perfectly; in short, it is everything that you could want from a novel ... This tale is everything that contemporary writing should be - formal experimentation in a genuine exploration of narrative and self. (Gregor Shepherd)

Romantic ... lyrical ... a novel of atmosphere ... it succeeds powerfully (Sunday Times)

This book is an absorbing read of dream-like intensity. I was left with the sense of having travelled somewhere both strange and recognisable; and teased with the tantalising sense of shades just beyond the edges of my vision. (Waterstone's Books Quarterly, Lesley Glaister)

Extraordinary ... Let us hope that Jordan's screen commitments do not keep him from the page for another 10 years (Independent)

A very impressive piece of work indeed (Sunday Telegraph)

There are cinematic elements to Shade ... Jordan has a vivid sense of place, and languidly evokes the summer days of Nina's childhood in Ireland. (Daily Telegraph)

A deeply atmospheric ghost story (The Bookseller)

Compelling, intriguing, at once a human drama and a fascinating metaphysical mystery (Patrick McCabe)

A very impressive piece of work indeed. The narrative is well crafted, the characters are achingly credible and the writing is poetic in the finest sense of the word ... Exquisitely wrought images of turn-of-the-century Ireland litter the text' (Sunday Telegraph)

The time you pass reading Shade is only the start of an experience; this novel will continue to haunt and fascinate well beyond the final page (Sunday Independent)

[a] brief summary doesn't do justice to the dizzying complexity of the plot as narrative voices shift and time frames blur ... Jordan's prose is lyrical and elegiac ... It gives the novel a curiously hushed quality (Zembla)

Shares with Jordan's best films a twisting narrative which teasingly unravels its own mysteries (Marie Claire Book of the Month)

[A] beautiful, multi-layered novel ... his most poetic, most moving book to date (Sunday Tribune)

His cinematic sensibility yields prose of the most bewitching kind (Sunday Times)

So good it leaves one wondering why he bothers making movies. His belief in language is absolute, as is his mastery of it. Jordan doesn't waste words and the ones he uses are invariably the right ones ... The novel's beauty lies in the writing, particularly in the graceful, painterly prose of the descriptive passages. It is Thomas Hardy deferring to William Trevor. This is a very good book, possessing an elegiac resonance (Irish Times)

Although Jordan obsessively describes the Irish landscape, it's his dialogue and charaterisation that shine (Independent on Sunday)

Desperately compelling ... Meditative and compulsive, Shade continues to haunt long after the book is closed. (Observer)

Jordan writes with a filmmaker's eye, creating a very visual, fluid portrait of childhood idylls and imaginary friendships ... his portrayal of an early Edwardian family torn apart by war and disillusionment is authentic and often funny, with brilliant pen-portraits ... He is a master of mood, insight and perception (Scotland on Sunday)

Compelling, intriguing, at once a human drama and a fascinating metaphysical mystery, Shade courses its way, like the river Boyne that runs through it, steadily, patiently, but thankfully, never predictably, before reaching its final, heartbreaking denouement. Triumphant.

A mystery where the culprit is never in doubt. Written with exceptional attention to detail, with the passion and economy of one who knows and loves language, it is a lyrically beautiful chronicle of a death foretold (Sunday Herald)

A novel swelling with beauty, threat and secret power ... Thoughtful and captivating (Toronto Globe and Mail)

With this fierce, dark and yet luminous novel, Neil Jordan once again demonstrates that he is one of Ireland's most talented artists (John Banville)

A richly layered tale of love and betrayal, war and friendship that spans half a century (Canberra Times)

A lyrical, immaculately told drama (Good Housekeeping)

As well as being a haunting and powerful novel, Shade ... has a cinematic quality that compels the reader to visualise the events. (Big Issue)

An intriguing story (Bradford Telegraph & Argus)