The Ikon Maker

'She (Susan O'Hallrahan) loves her son with a passion that has reawakened her sexuality. When he flees her and his unhappy memories of childhood, she cannot stand her life alone and goes to England in search of him. There, suffused with the glow of a woman in love that turns the heads of young men on the street, she enters the world of son's generation ... Mr Hogan is a subtle writer. Crises have resolutions; life's common tragedies, as he makes us see, do not.' New York Times Book Review 'I think Hogan has learnt something from John McGahern in the way he constructs this simple and allusive story. It is beautifully done: little semi-impressionistic touches (food, clothes) add colour to the spare, clean arc of the narrative. Not a word is wasted or misplaced ... The Ikon Maker is wonderfully assured: in its quiet, suggestive way it manages to say a great deal about Ireland and makes many more telling points about a woman's role than any soi-disant feminist novel I have read. It is a tremendously affecting book.' Sebastian Faulks 'One of Ireland's finest writers.' Robert McCrum, [former literary editor of] The Observer 'A novel of great clarity and depth.' David Plante 'Lyricism that is beautifully controlled ... a thoughtful and graceful book.' Victoria Glendinning, Hibernia