An important, touching novel that stays with you long after you're done reading it * Independent *
Highly emotional but never sentimental * Vogue *
If Room forced home truths on us, about parenthood, responsibility and love, Akin deals with similar subject matter more subtly, but in the end just as compellingly . . . This is a quietly moving novel that shows us how little we know one another, but how little, perhaps, we need to know in order to care * Guardian *
Akin offers a subtle, entertaining portrait of the relationship - and friction - between age and youth * The Economist *
Poignant and hopeful, the bestselling novelist of Room has delivered another exquisite portrayal of an adult and child making their way in the world * Woman & Home *
A highly enjoyable novel * Daily Mail *
Absorbing. I loved the growing relationship between the two * Prima *
Sweet, tender and defiantly unsentimental, this is a sad, funny look at how flawed, fragile people develop a sense of belonging * Psychologies *
A delicate and moving reminder of the way in which our human stories are made from practical choices - often in life as well as in literature * Harper's Bazaar *
Heartwarming and humourous * Radio Times *
We are never too old, Donoghue reminds us, to emerge from our childish dusks. What begins as a larky story of unlikely male bonding turns into an off-center but far richer novel about the unheralded, imperfect heroism of two women - Michael's incarcerated mother and Noah's long deceased one - and the way we preserve the past and prepare for the future * New York Times *
Soul stirring * O Magazine *
Captivating . . . There is a lyrical, mesmerizing quality to the storytelling . . . It is the complex and soulful characters Donoghue creates that are most memorable in this novel * Times Literary Supplement *
Akin spans continents and centuries, stretching the bonds that link children, parents and grandparents to breaking point * Times *
Like Room, which featured a boy and his mother held captive, Akin shows Donoghue's interest in the mind of a child, in this case that of Michael, an 11-year-old from a tough part of Brooklyn * Sunday Times *
Touching * The Mail on Sunday *