Time of the Child

There is something of Trollope’s Barsetshire here, in the sense of an entire place rendered in fine detail ... Williams’s phrasing is immaculate and even the smallest characters are drawn with attention and detail. But Dr Troy is the heart of this slow, rich novel. The scene in which he dances with the baby in a quiet kitchen is one of the most affecting I’ve read * The Times *
A compellingly emotional experience that catches the breath and doesn’t let up until it reaches its final, dramatic conclusion * Guardian *
Time of the Child dazzles as both Christmas tale and erudite novel ... A stylistic cousin to the vernacular achievements of Kevin Barry and Roddy Doyle, but also distinctive ... Williams packs his paragraphs with lush imagery and piercing psychological insight. Let’s raise a glass of mulled wine to an Emerald Isle master at the peak of his powers * Washington Post *

When I cried, it was because, with his careful and compassionate depictions of people, place and time, Williams reminds us of the humanity in all, of the vitality of a community that comes together, and of the power in revealing our vulnerabilities to others

* New York Times Book Review *
An exquisite portrayal of the characters, weather, geography and everyday life in rural west Ireland in 1962 ... Akin to Dickens in his brilliantly detailed observations ... Kind, wry, funny and poignant, this needs a great film director * Woman & Home, Books of the Year *
My new favourite ... A study in human community that made me laugh out loud and remember how to love even the people who cause others so much suffering, and especially those who come together to ease it -- Margaret Renkl * New York Times *
Williams, always skilful and compelling, has wrought something plausible out of one of the oldest stories we have ... Williams’s delicacy in depicting the mysteries of interactions both human and divine is quietly satisfying ... Williams excels in his characterisation * Financial Times *
Williams’s newest is another master class in stunningly poetic depictions of the sorrow and beauty of arduous lives * People Magazine, Book of the Week *
There’s a quiet grace to this slow-paced, poetic novel set in rural Ireland in the run-up to Christmas 1962 ... A story brimming with kindness and courage * Mail on Sunday *
Readers looking to get into the Christmas spirit early this year will find plenty of it in Niall Williams’s new novel, Time of the Child, a warm and life-affirming story about ordinary people going to extraordinary lengths * Irish Times *
The genius – yes, genius – of Niall Williams is his evocation of the ordinary, which in his hands becomes an exaltation. He shares with Marilynne Robinson and Anne Tyler the gift of seeing the sublime in the everyday, a series of précises of each and every human soul * The Weekly *
A sublime tale of small-town Irish life ... A slow-burning, finely crafted novel about second chances, humanity and familial love, Time of the Child rewards close reading ... Williams’s descriptive language is extraordinary – his use of understatement and irony artfully deployed, his characterisation sublime. I find it astonishing that, despite his global success, he has yet to win a big award * Observer *
A powerful pleasure to find myself back in Faha where the prose is luminous, the people irresistible, the stories mesmerizing, and it never stops raining -- Karen Joy Fowler
A remarkably wonderful book … I was in tears * Church Times *
Heartwarming ... If you are looking for a novel that speaks to our better angels, pick up Time of the Child -- Graydon Carter
Williams quietly lets us glimpse the story’s underlying harshness between the lines of his warm and finely turned festive tale ... A lyrical, mid-20th-century tapestry set in a slowly transforming society as the advent of electricity revolutionises everyday life * Daily Mail *
In this poignant novel, miracles abound ... Time of the Child is an engrossing read, the dark and the rain and the shabby but hopeful holiday decorations blending with the peat smoke and the love, all coming fully alive on the page. And that is something of a miracle itself * Boston Globe *
Kind and funny ... Akin to Dickens in his observations, Williams’ descriptions of gesture hint at his characters’ interior landscapes * Woman & Home *
With writing so stunning, Time of the Child forces the reader to turn down page after page to always remember what genius is. Another glorious and touching novel from Niall Williams, one of the world's greatest storytellers -- Anne Griffin, author of the number one Irish bestseller When All is Said and Done
A shimmering portrait of a gradually shifting social landscape ... Williams is a lyrical writer who takes his time. He specializes in resonant moments * Christian Science Monitor *
Gorgeous, wry and humane ... Time of the Child may have the best sentences of any novel this year * Minneapolis Star Tribune *
On the surface, Time of the Child by Niall Williams is an elegiac portrait of life in an Irish village in the Christmas season of 1962. But it is so much more than that. Somehow, by laying bare the inner lives of these decent country people, my own life feels so much richer for having read it. I was deeply moved by this novel -- Mary Beth Keane, New York Times-bestselling author of Ask Again, Yes and The Half Moon
There is so much to admire in Niall Williams new novel - the lyrical language, how landscape and destiny intertwine, the complex bonds of community - but what impresses most is how vividly he enters the innermost thoughts of his characters, thus revealing their seemingly quiet existences brim with the profoundest questionings of how we should live our lives. Time of the Child is a triumph -- Ron Rash, author of Serena and The Caretaker

It’s rare in contemporary fiction to see a community so well imagined and brought vividly to life ... Time of the Child might be just the gift we all need for the holidays

* Pittsburgh Post-Gazette *
A Christmas tale of the very best sort, one that reminds us of the fundamental mystery of being human. Even in this sinking parish on the furthermost edge of nowhere, in the dark and dying time of the year, there’s something in the air that speaks of the miraculous * California Review of Books *
Oh, the utter goosebumpy pleasure of reading this book! The experience will fill you up, even if you didn't know there was an emptiness there to begin with. Niall Williams reminds us again and again that the small and the ordinary are married to amazement, that dailiness and miracles walk hand in hand, and that other people are a mystery: Approach with curiosity! Approach with grace -- Catherine Newman

Niall Williams is one of Ireland’s greatest storytellers, and Time of the Child is his finest, and most compelling work to date

-- Simon Van Booy
Praise for Niall Wiliams: A beautiful writer -- Hozier
What makes this so compelling and enjoyable is Williams’s transparent love of his characters and delight in his setting * Observer *
Williams’ prose .... is written with a turn of phrase that makes the reader want to underline something on every page. I suggest we all buy his books, pushing him into that realm of globally fashionable Irish writers, but more importantly, sharing with a vast audience his humane and poetic world view * Financial Times *
Williams has painted a lush, wandering portrait of Faha, a village back in time in County Clare, Ireland … We are invited to lower ourselves into a slower kind of time ... [A] bighearted novel * New York Times *
Williams has the eye of a poet and the raconteur’s knack for finding a tale in the most unpromising nook of everyday life * Daily Mail *
With his silver ear for speech and extreme attentiveness to the Heaneyesque “music of everyday”, Mr Williams treads softly on the dreams of youth and memories of old age * Country Life *
A surge of language, beautiful and enchanting, a novel that weaves a love of literature into its own moving tale * Guardian *
A luminously written, magical work of fiction * New York Times Book Review *