The Queen of Dirt Island
The uplifting number 1 bestseller about the roots that bind family, from the prize-winning author of Strange Flowers
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
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
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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.
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'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
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ryan (Strange Flowers) returns with an inspired story about four generations of women and girls living together in a small Irish village. Saoirse Aylward is just days old in 1982 when her father is killed in a car accident. Her mother, Eileen, a foul-mouthed, chain-smoking woman who tells Saoirse she loves her every night, has been estranged from her family ever since her premarital pregnancy. Now, as a widow, Eileen finds a dear friend in her late husband's mother, Saoirse's Nana. As Saoirse grows up, she adores Eileen, her Nana, and her two paternal uncles, Chris and Paudie, who dote on her. She also picks up on the meanness of the world during a visit to Eileen's childhood home, which Eileen and her relatives call "Dirt Island." Later, teenage Saoirse gets pregnant after a hazy encounter with a musician, causing much heartache. Nana moves in with them after having a stroke, and Chris gets married and Paudie is arrested for hiding guns for the IRA. Drama ensues with a conflict between Eileen and her brother over ownership of Dirt Island, and Saoirse's trust in her child's godparent is compromised. Short vignette-style chapters sometimes disrupt the flow, though each of the characters shimmers with life. Overall, this is glorious and moving.
