The Bellini Madonna

The Bellini Madonna achieves more than mischief as it explores the complexities of desire in a narrative suffused with comedy and a mounting sense of loss . . . Lowry has composed her novel with tremendous care, daring to set puzzles for the reader that, once solved, form a portrait of lonely people with a talent for "self-sabotage". A mystery story, a love story and a comedy of errors set in that most familiar of locations - a ruinous country house - The Bellini Madonna is a compelling debut that entertains and unsettles in equal measure * Guardian *
This sparkling first novel is a treat for lovers of elegant mystery and exquisite prose . . . a delight * The Times *
Fusing the techniques of the thriller writer with those of historical fiction, Lowry . . . invokes an authentically Bellinian sense of distantly exact perspectives to create a first novel of genuine subtlety and distinction * Times Literary Supplement *
A complex narrative twists and turns back in time to Baedeker's Italy, and Robert Browning's aphrodisiac asparagus. This is a first novel and Lowry has thrown a very considerable talent into it, creating a splendidly quirky art historian * Independent *
The Bellini Madonna is a quite remarkable debut novel - one which takes the reader into several worlds, each so perfectly drawn that you can smell the dusty rooms of Mawle, the fragrance of roses blooming in a secret garden and come to understand the complexities that drive the central characters towards their separate ends * Oxford Times *
This is an unusual book; a debut novel that doesn't feel like one. A multi-layered detective story wrapped in a sardonic confession of a not-very-likeable individual, its tone is caustic and intriguing . . . marks the arrival of an interesting new talent * Irish Examiner *