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When his fiancée breaks off their engagement, Patrick Oxtoby leaves home and moves to a boarding house in a seaside town. But in spite of his hopes and determination to build a better life, nothing goes to plan and Patrick is soon driven to take a desperate and chilling course of action.

This is How is a mesmerizing and meticulously drawn portrait of a man whose unease in the world leads to his tragic undoing. Written with breathtaking wisdom and an astute insight into the human mind, M.J. Hyland’s new book is a masterpiece that inspires horror and sympathy in equal measure.

Vulpes Libris has published an interview with Maria.
You can read the full interview (by Lisa Glass) here.
Here’s a little taster:
LG: Yes. Your characters are young and appear to be exploring what’s what in the world. They also seem uncomfortable in their own bodies. I’m thinking of Patrick’s physical awkwardness, Lou’s emerging sexual power and tendency [...]

Maria joined author Jeff Lindsay, the creator of the very popular Dexter series of crime novels (now a succesful American TV series, starring Michael Hall),  at the Brisbane Writers’ Festival to discuss writing about killers.
The discussion – killing people, on paper – chaired by Richard Fidler, was aired on Australian radio and is now online [...]

This is How pops up on another ‘best of 2009′ list.  Anna Mundow, writing in the Boston Globe describes the novel as ‘fearlessly disturbing’:
Hyland’s pared-down descriptions of Patrick’s life – as it once was and as he now endures it – convey excruciating tension and pain. Yet the claustrophobic world that she creates has at [...]

The Times names This is How as one of the best books of 2009 in its
Christmas Books Fiction Review.
MJ Hyland appears alongside William Trevor and  Margaret Atwood, in the Times list, which describes This is How as ‘ a pin-sharp examination of a young man’s troubled soul’
The full list is here

This is How makes yet another appearance in a major newspaper’s ‘books of the year’ list. This time it’s the Irish Times, where poet Vona Groarke writes:
“Patrick Oxtoby is a damaged, brittle, ordinary man: his actions and their consequences are presented in deceptively transparent prose that balances honesty with integrity, and brutality with a tiny, [...]

More good news – Another major newspaper has picked This is How in its end of year roundup. The Financial Times has chosen This is How as one of its best novels of 2009.
Financial Times fiction reviewer Angel Gurría-Quintana writes:
“Hyland’s exquisitely crafted prose makes readers care for this emotionally stunted protagonist.”
You can see the full [...]

John O’Connell chooses This is How as one of his best books of 2009 in the New Statesman, describing it as a “masterly disquisition on the problem of motive”.
The full list can be read here

This year’s Man Booker prize winner, Hilary Mantel, has chosen This is How as one of her books of the year!
In a piece published in the Guardian, Mantel, the author of Wolf Hall, wrote:
Mysteriously underrated among this year’s novels was MJ Hyland’s This Is How; but then, Hyland’s talent in itself is mysterious. How does [...]

Maria was recently interviewed by Australian TV (ABC), and the 9minute interview is now online. In it Maria talks about her goals as a writer, the difficulties she faced when writing This is How, and gives some advice to aspiring writers. You can view the interview online here.

This is How is one of the books up for discussion on the November edition of  Australian TV ABC’s First Tuesday Book Club, hosted by journalist and publisher Jennifer Byrne. Guests discussing the book are David Marr, Di Morrissey, alongside regular panelists Jason Steger (the books editor of The Age and The Sunday Age), [...]