The Convictions of John Delahunt - Hardcover

Andrew Hughes was born in Ireland and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. It was while researching his acclaimed social history of Fitzwilliam Square―Lives Less Ordinary: Dublin's Fitzwilliam Square, 1798-1922―that he first came across the true story of John Delahunt that inspired his debut novel, The Convictions of John Delahunt. Andrew lives in Dublin.

“Historian Hughes puts his knowledge of mid-19th-century Ireland to masterly use in his chilling first novel. This beautifully written tale of cruelty and redemption is as unforgettable as it is harrowing.”
- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A remarkable first novel. At once a close character study and a sweeping panorama of 'dissectionists' who buy bodies for medical research and the 'resurrectionists' who dig them up, this fascinating book is a stirring work of fiction and a perceptive chapter in Ireland’s social history.”
- Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

“There is a dark resignation to Delahunt’s tale and at times an almost manic, Sweeney Todd–like urgency. Recommend this atmospheric historical fiction to fans of John Banville or Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace (1996).”
- Booklist

“Andrew Hughes has created an eerily authentic world where one’s neighbors cannot be trusted and the authorities even less. John’s rapid decline from aimless student to cold-blooded killer is not only chilling, but sophisticated in its telling. Superb.”
- Bookreporter

“Fascinating. A mesmerizing, utterly convincing, utterly sympathetic tale of life in Victorian Dublin. A realistic, complex tale that raises important, topical questions about society, government and morality. And the writing itself is really quite terrific. An exceptional historical mystery.”
- Criminal Element

“A Kafkaesque study of an amoral weakling consumed by an unrestrained bureaucracy.”
- Kirkus Reviews

“An engrossing historical mystery. Gallows humor and Dickensian details permeate Hughes’ debut, one that takes readers to the dark heart of a series of real crimes in Victorian Dublin.”
- Minneapolis Star Tribune

“A quite exceptional novel. The world he creates has echoes of Kafka and Orwell. Totally convincing. It draws you in like a trap.”
- C. J. Sansom, author of Dissolution and Winter in Madrid

“Just about everything pays off in this engrossing 'Crime and Punishment' style tale. Fascinating. The novel is mean and wicked and really well done.”
- Pittsburg Post-Gazette

“Compelling and eerily authentic. Read it and be grateful to be alive in our day and age.”
- Robert Goddard

“Unputdownable. Chillingly portrayed. A highly sophisticated first novel.”
- Charles Palliser, author of The Quincunx

“Extraordinarily detailed world, impeccably researched. So superbly written that it soars as a masterly work of fiction. Utterly compelling.”
- Irish Mail on Sunday