“For readers patient enough to look beneath the make-up, there are marvels to behold.”
Thomas Beller, ‘The Loved Ones,’ by Mary-Beth Hughes
The New York Times Sunday Book Review, July 24, 2015
Oprah: Editor's Choice
“Sexy, immersive and lushly written. Read with a sundress on—and a pair of Wayfarers.
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Julie Buntin, 2 Chill-Out Books to Read Over July 4 (and More)
Oprah, July 2, 2015
The New Yorker: "Bracing"
“Bracing… Hughes is preternaturally alert to subtleties of appearance, gesture, and sensory detail.”
Books: Briefly Noted
The New Yorker, July 6, 2015
Bookforum: “Archly contemporary”
“[E]motionally raw but ultimately elegant. . . . Hughes brings the reader so close to each member of the Devlin family that when the faces come into view, we know the characters so well that their physical attributes seem beside the point.”
Pop Matters: A Crash Course in 20 Stories
““In ‘Pelican Song’, Mary-Beth Hughes proves that it’s possible to write well about domestic violence. Her story is smart, well-rounded, and avoids sentimentality at every turn.””
From a review of a collection of short stories that includes "Pelican Song," from Double Happiness.