Another masterpiece from Dermot Bolger’s pen. If you enjoyed The Family on Paradise Pier then you will certainly relish this splendidly crafted continuation which brings vividly to life the main character Eva Fitzgerald. Bolger has a luxurious and detailed approach that injects a powerful sense of realism and authenticity into all his work.

The Gloss Magazine, March 2019

An Ark of Light is a superbly written and beautifully moving book that brought this reader to tears. Not tears of sorrow or even joy, but tears of undeniable appreciation for such a cherished depiction of human character. ‘Eva Fitzgerald is a fictional character based on the real-life Sheila Fitzgerald whose story the author first explored…

RTE Culture, Oct 2018

Indeed, Bolger’s novel provides the most vivid of social and cultural contexts. The world around Eva changes and grows, as feminism achieves hard-fought victories, as colonialism gasps and retreats, as Aids runs a scythe through a generation. Ireland and Dublin morph and stretch too: some of this book’s most evocative scenes are set in 1951,…

The Irish Times, Oct 2018

‘The house in south Dublin turns out to be a mere staging post in a life lived if not always happily, then certainly with guts and willpower. Bolger’s story spotlights colonial Kenya, where the ghastly lives of settlers, with their pet mongooses and taste for imported English marmalade, are described memorably; 1960s London and provincial…

The Irish Times

“On a chilly morning in 1954, in her home in south Dublin, Eva Fitzgerald remembers her wedding day 28 years previously  – and a vow extracted by her mother: “No matter what hand life deals you, promise me that you will strive tooth and nail for the right to be happy.” ‘Already, in these early pages…

The Irish Times