'enthralling'
Galway City Tribune
'what makes the book work is that O’Dowd tells his story honestly and the reader learns too about his family, friends and his own personal struggles to leave behind a life of hard drinking and bouts of depression to become successful as a business man and a human being'
Books Ireland
'O’Dowd’s autobiography made quite an impact when it was first published'
Books Ireland
'For a good part of his autobiography he is not centre stage but an observer in the wings, and when he writes about himself, there is enough painful honesty about his heavy drinking, depression and misfiring relationships to dispel any notions of personal vanity'
Irish Post
'There is no shortage nowadays of big hitters recognising the unique qualities of Niall O’Dowd, the founder of an Irish American publishing empire, who earned his place in the history of the Irish peace process as the man who brought Sinn Féin in from the cold by gaining it access first to the US, and then to President Clinton himself'
Irish Post
'a compelling personal journey'
Ireland of the Welcomes
‘A valuable contribution to the history of the peace process as well as the Irish emigrant experience. Niall’s is a powerful story and it may well yet prove to be a classic of the emigrant genre.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen
‘unflinchingly recounts the Irish immigrant experience of the 1980s ... a story familiar to Irish emigrants the world over, yet rarely is it written about so candidly. The book is fluid and dynamic, the story remarkable. You can detect the influence of American writers like Hemingway and Whitman. O’Dowd shares a similarly pure and eloquent writing voice: deceptively simple, but an art in itself.
The Huffington Post
'this book is wonderful ... A fascinating read'
Sunday Business Post
'his story is a wonderful articulation of the tale of thousands of Irish immigrants'
Sunday Business Post
