‘smart, devout and blasphemous . . .The sacred and secular blur gloriously into one another.” –Los Angeles Times
“Clever, confident and witty . . . a collection of au courant tales that still manage to emanate a kind of energetic, if bemused reverence and awe at the power of faith in the face of suffering.” –Chicago Tribune
“Inarguably refreshing in its honesty and absolutely pure in the truth as she sees it. I am looking forward to more of what O’Connell sees and writes.” –Molly Ringwald, The Hartford Courant
“Living with Saints is funny, shocking and inspirational–a regular book of revelations.” –Camille Cauti, Time Out New York
“Living with Saints is a brilliant debut collection. Mary O’Connell is a wonderful writer.” –Thom Jones
“Wickedly funny, crisp and unique. O’Connell’s voice grabs you by the throat and elicits both laughter and tears. The only sin here would be one of omission–read this gem immediately, preferably with vodka.
” –Suzanne Finnamore
“Unlike other recent attempts to reanimate the lives of the saints. . . O’Connell’s fiction reclaims the radical orneriness of these God-obsessed women.” –Mary DiLucia, Commonweal
“O’Connell is a talent to watch.” –Kirkus Reviews
“Wickedly clever [and] sassy in tone from the opening sentence . . . Serious topics are addressed in every story and the links between myth and life are tight and always unexpected. . . . Traditionalists may be shocked, but everyone else (nonreligious readers included) will be delighted with these well-crafted, inventive and highly original modern visitations.” –Publishers Weekly
“O’Connell’s powerful short-story collection draws upon the lives of the saints to show the divine at work in even the most mundane lives. With humor that is often biting but never malicious, authentic and never forced, O’Connell finds parallels between ancient saints and contemporary women. [These stories] are irreverent, but never profane.” –Library Journal
‘sharp, ironic, often hilarious, laced with one-liners . . . not only sinfully funny but curiously uplifting . . . [O’Connell’s] offbeat language is precisely aimed.” –Aisling Foster, Times Literary Supplement
Grove Press
