Exile: A Novel - Tapa dura

Exile is a brilliant tour de force, a refreshing antidote to the flag-waving fictions of multiculturalism.

--University of Toronto Quarterly

Exile is social commentary at its subtle and witty best.

--Doretta Lau "The Vancouver Sun "

This is a fable that feels very real.--Alex Bozikovic "Eye Weekly "

Exile is a tour de force. I haven't been so amused and appaled by a fictional character since reading Vladimir Nabokov's Pnin.--Susan Evans Shaw "The Hamilton Spectator "

Ireland's prose creates a vivid character in the flawed figure of Carlosand Ireland has deep insight into the lives of exiles.--Now Magazine

Ireland's stint as president of PEN Canada undoubtedly opened her eyes to the tension between the artistic and political lives of writers around the world and the desire of Canadian cultural community to help (but only according to our rather bland and flat-footed rules). She paints these two solitudes with great wit and cunning observation.

--Browyn Drainie "Amazon.ca "

Her characters are delightfully stereotypical, and she playfully puts people's prejudices and assumptions on display. As past president of PEN Canada, Ireland has cleverly and cheekily turned the work of that organization into folly, earning her a deserved nomination for a Governor General's Award for fiction.

--Danyael Halprin "The Calgary Herald "

In the hands of a lesser writer, the broad strokes might simply have betrayed a lack of craft. But here, this deficit of details read more like a clever stylistic device used by a writer absolutely in charge of her tools. And there's no mistaking Ireland's talent.--Skidmore "The Gazette "

Ireland has written one of the year's best novels, a witty satire on cross-cultural expectations, the distances between people, and the frailty of good intentions.--Quentin Mills-Fenn "Uptown Magazine "

It is a reflection of the strength of a novel.

--Ryan Bigge "The Toronto Star "