The volume makes a significant contribution to our understanding not only of emergent themes in contemporary writing, but also of how critical writing is a form of engagement. Magennis's work is an invitation for new voices, critical and creative, and new ways of thinking, and will be enjoyed by many readers.

C21 Literature

I was lucky enough to be an early reader of this book and it brings a radical, humane rush of energy to Northern Irish literary criticism. It's a privilege to be so closely and sharply read alongside so many contemporary writers.

Lucy Caldwell, novelist and playwright

Magennis has cultivated a vital space and an important feminist methodological framework to inspire the next generation of scholarly thinking about Northern Ireland. The themes of intimacy, affect, and pleasure that structure this text offer a profound rethinking of the study of Northern Ireland, one that addresses the people who live there as subjects with complex needs and desires than simply products of war. Overall, this is a significant and rigorous body of research from an exciting and conscientious voice at the forefront of the field of Northern Irish studies.

Irish University Review

Fascinating and educative.

Bookmunch

Throughout the chapters Magennis's voice is clear, sharp, passionate and unapologetic, and this becomes more than an academic monograph, but an almost autoethnographic journey to reimagine how we read and understand contemporary Northern Irish fiction. Its honesty and intimacy are engaging, as if Magennis is addressing each of us, regaling the reader with stories and analysis that bring the text to life. That is not to say that this is not a rigorous researched monograph, on the contrary. Magennis' work is without question detailed, thoughtful and measured. But her writing style is accessible, clear, concise, and retains a sense of personality often missing from so many academic monographs.

Irish Studies Review

Genuinely innovative. This book offers a refreshingly provocative and much needed critical reassessment of hegemonic readings of Northern Irish fiction. It affirms its timeliness by situating the importance of intimacy, the body, and pleasure not only within the specific context of post-Agreement Northern Ireland but also the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr Stefanie Lehner, Senior Lecturer in Irish Literature, Queen's University Belfast, UK