“Urquhart is one of Canada’s most accomplished and interesting writers.”
— Edmonton Journal
“Original and dazzling, radiant and quietly perceptive, Urquhart’s new novel delights the senses even as it astonishes the mind….”
— London Free Press
“A lyrical novel with a deep, unsentimental connection to ordinary life…. [Urquhart’s] language is vivid enough to take your breath away.”
— Boston Globe
“Urquhart explores the ability to love and the failure to love; the visual pictures and images of humanity beneath the surfaces on which art is created. The Underpainter is a savory read.”
— Flare
“Urquhart’s evocation of time and place shimmers with clarity….”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Urquhart has written a novel whose narrative power matches her delicate artistry with words … lodges in the mind and heart forever.”
— Montreal Gazette
“Richly textured prose, and an intricate, many layered structure.”
— Sunday Times (U.K.)
“A rich, multi-faceted story, skillfully told”
— San Francisco Chronicle
“The Underpainter has the force of an idea whose time has come….”
— Globe and Mail
“Her writing shimmers with lyric sensuality.”
— Vancouver Sun
“It is the sadness of stoic self-denial, of huge sacrifices made for questionable ends, of small and large renunciations, that haunts our collective past and rises so powerfully out of the pages of this novel.”
— Toronto Star
“Elegant and unpretentious … an absorbing, beautifully cadenced novel.”
— Daily Telegraph (U.K.)
“Urquhart writes forcefully; her imagery is vivid, and her evocation of time and place is accomplished and assured.”
— Times Literary Supplement (U.K.)
“Urquhart… is a skilled word-painter.”
— Washington Post Book World
“Brave, intelligent and vivid.”
— Literary Review (U.K.)
“The Underpainter is a sad, subtle work that continues [Urquhart’s] tradition as one of Canada’s finest contemporary authors.”
— Winnipeg Free Press