“Alistair MacLeod’s stories are as regional and universal as the work of Faulkner or Chekhov. And they are, I think, as permanent.”
–Michael Ondaatje

“Stunning. . . . The quality of the writing matches the very best in the world. . . . The stories are about us and here is that rare voice, a unique voice, to illuminate our experience.”
–Edmonton Journal

“The book is a treasure. . . . These are stories well worth returning to, with layers to uncover gradually. . . . It doesn’t get any better than this.”
–Toronto Star

“If you buy one book this year, let it be Island. . . . You will have in your possession not only some of the best short stories written in the twentieth century, but some of the best short stories ever written in the English language. . . . These are universal stories for all time.”
–Kitchener-Waterloo Record

“Every story is touched with the beauty and truth of genius”
–Irish Times

“One of the finest masters of prose in the world . . . these short stories have established MacLeod as a writer whose every word is set in place with clean and enduring perfections.”
–Scotsman

“These stories have slowly become famous for their control of tone and cadence and for MacLeod’s ability to handle pure, raw emotion. . . . Neither contemporary trend nor modern ironies interest him. The genius of his stories is to render his fictional world as timeless.”
–Colm Tóibín

“MacLeod’s lyricism succeeds in leaving a reader both harrowed by and envious of all the sorrow, violence and ravenous love.”
—New York Times Book Review