Description: "A ... novel about two sisters--one the matriarch of a boisterous Irish Catholic family, the other a cloistered nun, hidden from the world--and the secret that drove them apart"--
Review Quotes: "Reminiscent of both Colm Toibin's Brooklyn and Matthew Thomas's We Are Not Ourselves... All of Sullivan's characters leap off the page. You don't read this book; you breathe it." -Janet Maslin, "Times Critics' Top Books of 2017," The New York Times
"Fabulous and smart." --Emma Straub, The New York Times Book Review "Moving... Eloquently testifies to the durability of the fabric of family... Touched with... warmth, kindness and gentle wisdom." --Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal "All of her books are worth reading, but Sullivan's latest, about the divergent life paths of two Irish immigrant sisters, may be her very best."--Anna Quindlen "A breathtaking literary ode to life, change, and the unbreakable bonds of family." --Redbook "Carefully plotted... Sullivan succeeds in creating a believably complicated, clannish Irish-American family... Engrossing." --Suzanne Berne, The New York Times "An engrossing family drama... Sullivan's profound understanding of her characters and the Irish-Catholic culture that defines them illuminates every scene." --Kim Hubbard, People Magazine"This year's best book about family... Elegant... Captivating... Deft and insightful... A quiet masterpiece...impressive. Saints for All Occasions is so unassuming that its artistry looks practically invisible. In a simple style that never commits a flutter of extravagance, Sullivan draws us into the lives of the Raffertys, and in the rare miracle of fiction makes us care about them like they were our own family." --Ron Charles, The Washington Post
"A blockbuster...An engrossing family drama with feisty humor and transformative tough love."
--Elle "I hope to read another novel as strong and wise and beautiful and heartbreaking as J. Courtney Sullivan's Saints for All Occasions this year, but I'm not sure I will."
--Richard Russo