The Queen of Dirt Island
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Summary
From the Booker longlisted author, and an Irish Times No.1 bestseller - a searing, jubilant novel about four generations of women and the stories that bind them.
'Beautiful, compassionate ... Donal Ryan at his inimitable best.' MAGGIE O'FARRELL
'One of the finest novelists writing today... a haunting, exquisite masterpiece.' RACHEL JOYCE
___________
This is a story about family, about all of the things it should be - and sometimes isn't.
In Nenagh, County Tipperary, four generations of Aylward women live and love. The head of the family, Nana, is a woman who has buried two sons and whose life has been the family farm. Her daughter-in-law, Eileen, is estranged from her own parents, having 'shamed' them and given birth to Saoirse. And then there's Saoirse herself, eavesdropping on lives she cannot comprehend. It is only when they must battle for the inheritance of Dirt Island - a narrow strip of land adjacent to Eileen's childhood home - that they truly understand the roots that bind their lives together.
_________
'The prose drips like honey off a spoon' SUNDAY TIMES
'Beautifully poised, sad, poetic and human....I loved every single line.' IAN RANKIN
'A generous mosaic of a novel about the staying power of love and pride and history and family' COLUM McCANN
'His paragraphs are unnoticeably beautiful, his heart always on show' ANNE ENRIGHT
'Endlessly surprising and incredibly moving' DAVID NICHOLLS
'A life-enhancing talent' SEBASTIAN BARRY
'I would struggle to think of any other Irish author working today who writes with as much compassion as Donal Ryan' LOUISE O'NEILL
'Beautiful, compassionate ... Donal Ryan at his inimitable best.' MAGGIE O'FARRELL
'One of the finest novelists writing today... a haunting, exquisite masterpiece.' RACHEL JOYCE
___________
This is a story about family, about all of the things it should be - and sometimes isn't.
In Nenagh, County Tipperary, four generations of Aylward women live and love. The head of the family, Nana, is a woman who has buried two sons and whose life has been the family farm. Her daughter-in-law, Eileen, is estranged from her own parents, having 'shamed' them and given birth to Saoirse. And then there's Saoirse herself, eavesdropping on lives she cannot comprehend. It is only when they must battle for the inheritance of Dirt Island - a narrow strip of land adjacent to Eileen's childhood home - that they truly understand the roots that bind their lives together.
_________
'The prose drips like honey off a spoon' SUNDAY TIMES
'Beautifully poised, sad, poetic and human....I loved every single line.' IAN RANKIN
'A generous mosaic of a novel about the staying power of love and pride and history and family' COLUM McCANN
'His paragraphs are unnoticeably beautiful, his heart always on show' ANNE ENRIGHT
'Endlessly surprising and incredibly moving' DAVID NICHOLLS
'A life-enhancing talent' SEBASTIAN BARRY
'I would struggle to think of any other Irish author working today who writes with as much compassion as Donal Ryan' LOUISE O'NEILL
Reviews
This is a generous mosaic of a novel about the staying power of love and pride and history and family. While Donal Ryan is never afraid of "all the meanness and sorrow of the world," he also manages to excavate the thrilling beauties that hold us together. He manages, with wit and grace, to illuminate the anonymous corners of human experience and get at the underworld of our souls.
COLUM McCANN
