the writing is assured, the research thorough
-- Irish Echo
a wonderful evocation of an era, and gives us tantalising glimpses into the early life of the famous playwright. Morrissey imbues her characters with warmth and strength, making the reader sympathetic towards them, even when their actions are based in pride or folly
-- Irish Examiner
I'm not sure how much of the novel is fact, because the forays into fiction are seamless, and it's impossible to tell ... a stunning novel
-- Irish Examiner
a welcome volume, especially as we commemorate a formative stage in Irish history and those who helped to make that history
-- Irish Times
O'Brien Press continues its impressive revival of the Brandon imprint with Mary Morrissy's first novel in more than a decade
-- Irish Times
Bella Beaver, nee Casey, the older sister of playwright Sean O'Casey, may have been eclipsed by her sibling's literary fame, but this fictional retelling of her life story is as poignant as anything her brother put on the stage
-- Metro Herald
a truly skilful inventor
-- Irish Mail on Sunday
ideologies and conflicts of the time are also imaginatively explored
-- Irish Mail on Sunday
The Rising of Bella Casey should reach the widest possible audience. Readers deserve it
-- Irish Mail on Sunday
beautifully evoked ... a beautiful feeling for language and description
-- Arena
Morrissy reconstructs Bella's story with a telling eye for incongruous detail
-- The Guardian
Irish author Morrissy tends to be missed here, but she's a superb writer, full of sensitivity and intelligence. This historical novel tells of the imagined life of Bella Casey, older sister of the more famous playwright brother Sean O'Casey
-- The Herald
Morrissy illuminates this little-known life to the full
-- Catholic Herald
this ambitious historical novel mixes fact and fiction to bring us the compelling and beautiful story of Bella Casey, sister to the famed Irish playwright Sean O'Casey.Beginning during the Easter uprising in Dublin 1916 this intelligent, well-written and well-researched novel skips back in time recalling this fascinating character during a turbulent time in Irelands history
-- lovereading.co.uk
Mary Morrissy has a genius for lifting characters out of the dim backgrounds of history and brilliantly illuminating them. In The Rising of Bella Casey she evokes the rich Dublin world of the plays of Sean O'Casey, and creates a moving drama that O'Casey himself would have acknowledged.
-- John Banville
With great skill and vividness, Mary Morrissy gives voice to a fascinating but previously hidden woman. The result is a novel that is compelling and beautiful, no mere tale of historical restoration but a story full of strange resonances for our own time.
-- Joe O'Connor
In language that manages to be both elegant and unadorned at the same time, Mary Morrissy makes history rhyme with fiction. Morrissy tells the story of Bella Casey, but is well aware that the local becomes the universal. This is an intimate portrait of a woman and a profoundly necessary depiction of Irish history at its most extreme. From a piano left abandoned on the street, Morrissy has fashioned the notes between the ephemeral and the eternal. This is a wonderful book from one of our finest writers.
-- Colum McCann
