All That Is Solid Melts Into Air

This daring and ambitious novel blends historical epic and love story with a moving description of the Chernobyl disaster and the fall of the Soviet Union. A book rich with resonance far beyond its historical moment

Colm Tóibín

Brilliantly imagined, exhilarating in its sweep; McKeon creates a thrilling appearance of ease, while he delves deep and forges new territory for the contemporary novel. Daring, generous and beautifully written, All That is Solid Melts into Air marks the beginning of a truly significant career. I cannot say it loud enough: McKeon is here to stay

Colum McCann

Powerful and moving ... a supremely accomplished social novel ... What makes McKeon's vision so compelling is that the system this novel describes is not merely Russian, nor communist, but universal

John Burnside, Guardian

His description of the explosion at the Ukrainian nuclear plant is a stylistic high point ... recalls Don DeLillo's Underworld ... disturbing ... convincing ... a tense denouement

Independent

An outstanding debut novel ... portraying inconceivable horrors and acts of incredible beauty in luminously understated prose ... McKeon makes us care ... skilfully drawing us into their worlds before and after the explosion ... devastating

Metro

A book to be devoured, tragic and funny and sad and beautiful and sensual and shocking and, ultimately, utterly transcendent ... crackles with the whip-smart propulsion of a thriller, while immersing its reader in the rich inner turmoils of its characters

Image

Fascinating, with ... the ferocious grip of a rollercoaster thriller ... this book is beautifully written ... generous with elegantly turned phrases ... Skilfully crafted, thoughtful, poetic, well-judged ... [a] flawless pearl

Irish Independent