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Ravelling
Set in Dublin's Liberties, Estelle Birdy's explosively original debut Ravelling channels the energies and agonies of young men let loose in the city, their city, navigating the tumultuous trajectory of youth and young manhood, where they balance their hopes with the harsh realities of their present.
Hurtling between friendships, feuds, drug-deals, family and brushes with the law, this is modern Dublin as never before portrayed. Ravelling follows Deano, a weed-smoking hurling star, living with his aunt in an about-to-be-demolished flat; Hamza, a Pakistani Muslim atheist and precocious academic, who sells his ADHD drugs to the kids in a private school; Oisín, empathetic and iron-willed, who has begun to see his dead brother at the end of his bed; Congolese nature lover, Benit, who just wants to relax and hurl with the lads; Karl, a maybe-gay fashionista, dreaming of something better while immersing himself in his art.
Bound by friendship, place and the memories of those who've died too soon, these young men grapple with race, class, sex, parties, poverty, violence and Garda harassment, all while wondering what it means to be a man in twenty-first century Ireland.
Ravelling's diverse, captivating cast of characters, rendered in pin-sharp dialogue reminiscent of Roddy Doyle, leaves the reader with an immersive sense of multi-cultural Ireland. Fast-paced, funny and eye-popping, it descends from Trainspotting, White Teeth and Milkman in its portrayal of urban life in the twenty-first century. Ravelling has been optioned by Sleeper Films for a major TV series.
Hurtling between friendships, feuds, drug-deals, family and brushes with the law, this is modern Dublin as never before portrayed. Ravelling follows Deano, a weed-smoking hurling star, living with his aunt in an about-to-be-demolished flat; Hamza, a Pakistani Muslim atheist and precocious academic, who sells his ADHD drugs to the kids in a private school; Oisín, empathetic and iron-willed, who has begun to see his dead brother at the end of his bed; Congolese nature lover, Benit, who just wants to relax and hurl with the lads; Karl, a maybe-gay fashionista, dreaming of something better while immersing himself in his art.
Bound by friendship, place and the memories of those who've died too soon, these young men grapple with race, class, sex, parties, poverty, violence and Garda harassment, all while wondering what it means to be a man in twenty-first century Ireland.
Ravelling's diverse, captivating cast of characters, rendered in pin-sharp dialogue reminiscent of Roddy Doyle, leaves the reader with an immersive sense of multi-cultural Ireland. Fast-paced, funny and eye-popping, it descends from Trainspotting, White Teeth and Milkman in its portrayal of urban life in the twenty-first century. Ravelling has been optioned by Sleeper Films for a major TV series.
402 pages, Paperback
Published October 7, 2025
23 people are currently reading
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
May 15, 2024
I had been struggling to get back into reading since finishing my leaving cert last year and tried to pick up a few different books but just couldn't manage to finish them.
Decided to try this one as I am from Dublin and thought it would be interesting to read a book about young people set where I grew up. I have to say it was the best thing I've read in years! Only took me three days to finish it which is a personal record as I am not a huge reader.
I honestly can't wait to pick up another book now. Highly recommend it to other young people, it's funny, lighthearted and does a great job capturing the struggles of young people growing up in Dublin today. Definitely going to recommend it to all my mates!
Decided to try this one as I am from Dublin and thought it would be interesting to read a book about young people set where I grew up. I have to say it was the best thing I've read in years! Only took me three days to finish it which is a personal record as I am not a huge reader.
I honestly can't wait to pick up another book now. Highly recommend it to other young people, it's funny, lighthearted and does a great job capturing the struggles of young people growing up in Dublin today. Definitely going to recommend it to all my mates!
May 22, 2024
Simon and Garfunkel sang, "I am just a poor boy, though my story's seldom told."
These lyrics resonated with me as I became engrossed in the lives of five young Dublin lads grappling with what it means to become a man in twenty-first-century Ireland.
Estelle Birdy’s novel "Ravelling" grabs you by the throat from the start and transports you into the very heart of Dublin’s inner city: The Liberties. It's a fully immersive experience. Once inside, there's no easy way out. You need to quickly learn the ground rules and the language or face the consequences.
I had a choice: to pick up this book and enter their world. They did not. They were born here, or their families ended up here, in The Liberties. Amidst poverty, violence, drugs, intimidation, and racism, there is, at its core, a community overflowing with love, respect, and empathy.
Can two worlds exist side by side? The author gives a definite "yes" to that question. Estelle Birdy tackles the challenging task of telling their story through the lives of five lads preparing for their leaving cert exams. Her narrative is raw and honest. Her language is their language, as it must be. There is no judgment, just the facts. The reader can make up their own mind. But in "Ravelling," we hear the voices of these young people in The Liberties. An opportunity seldom afforded to any of them, other than in a sound bite that might ask, "And did you know the deceased?"
Too often, we see or hear a news story and make an immediate judgment on those involved and the area where the incident occurred. What more would you expect? After reading "Ravelling," we might think twice before passing that judgment.
The book is unique in its authenticity and style. Very few could have attempted the challenge to tell this story, in this way. The author understands and values her community and those who live there. Her sense of people and place is unique and she has done us a great favour by sharing it in this ‘stellar’ first novel.
These lyrics resonated with me as I became engrossed in the lives of five young Dublin lads grappling with what it means to become a man in twenty-first-century Ireland.
Estelle Birdy’s novel "Ravelling" grabs you by the throat from the start and transports you into the very heart of Dublin’s inner city: The Liberties. It's a fully immersive experience. Once inside, there's no easy way out. You need to quickly learn the ground rules and the language or face the consequences.
I had a choice: to pick up this book and enter their world. They did not. They were born here, or their families ended up here, in The Liberties. Amidst poverty, violence, drugs, intimidation, and racism, there is, at its core, a community overflowing with love, respect, and empathy.
Can two worlds exist side by side? The author gives a definite "yes" to that question. Estelle Birdy tackles the challenging task of telling their story through the lives of five lads preparing for their leaving cert exams. Her narrative is raw and honest. Her language is their language, as it must be. There is no judgment, just the facts. The reader can make up their own mind. But in "Ravelling," we hear the voices of these young people in The Liberties. An opportunity seldom afforded to any of them, other than in a sound bite that might ask, "And did you know the deceased?"
Too often, we see or hear a news story and make an immediate judgment on those involved and the area where the incident occurred. What more would you expect? After reading "Ravelling," we might think twice before passing that judgment.
The book is unique in its authenticity and style. Very few could have attempted the challenge to tell this story, in this way. The author understands and values her community and those who live there. Her sense of people and place is unique and she has done us a great favour by sharing it in this ‘stellar’ first novel.
May 30, 2024
I kept putting the book away as I got close to the end because I didn’t want the story to end yet! I found myself laughing out loud throughout the book and as soon as I closed it, I wanted to read it all again. The writing is just so brilliant and full of personality, each character’s chapters feel totally distinct from the rest and in the end, you don’t want to say goodbye to the lads. Can’t wait to pick it up again soon!
May 9, 2024
I was very lucky to get an advance copy of Ravelling, which will be published in Ireland on May 9, 2024. It is such an extraordinary debut that I woke up an hour early every morning to read more.
Set in a working class community in the city of Dublin, Ravelling follows a group of school friends over the course of their final year in school. Deano, Hamza, Benit and Oisin will break your heart, fill it with joy and break it again. It is honest, funny, raw, sharp, warm.
Recommended without reservation by John Boyne and Sebastian Barry, it will be on the shelf of books you keep forever.
Set in a working class community in the city of Dublin, Ravelling follows a group of school friends over the course of their final year in school. Deano, Hamza, Benit and Oisin will break your heart, fill it with joy and break it again. It is honest, funny, raw, sharp, warm.
Recommended without reservation by John Boyne and Sebastian Barry, it will be on the shelf of books you keep forever.
June 7, 2024
Ravelling is a deeply, darkly, sweetly emotional ride through life, and an inner city Dublin neighbourhood as seen through the eyes of a small group of male teenagers and close friends growing up in a confusing world. At turns tender, gritty, thought-provoking and challenging, the reader becomes an observer of a demographic category that is often only discussed in terms of problems and challenges, and a partcipant in their emotional highs and lows.
May 12, 2024
I cannot remember the last time I read a debut this original.
A gripping and hilarious tale of friendship, love and the struggles that young men face in a modern day Dublin. Within a couple of pages I was hooked.
The fast paced dialogue will have you laughing out loud and the characters will entrance you from the very start.
A beautiful piece of work that I know will stick in my mind for a very long time.
Bravo.
5/5
A gripping and hilarious tale of friendship, love and the struggles that young men face in a modern day Dublin. Within a couple of pages I was hooked.
The fast paced dialogue will have you laughing out loud and the characters will entrance you from the very start.
A beautiful piece of work that I know will stick in my mind for a very long time.
Bravo.
5/5
May 30, 2024
The central characters of Estelle Birdy’s debut novel, Ravelling, are five Leaving Cert lads living in the heart of Dublin. As a woman in her sixties who has never had kids, I'm not gonna lie, I was a teensy bit trepidant. I’d heard great things about the book and am always up for sampling new Irish talent, but would I be able to relate to such characters? Answer: Absolutely! I fell into their stories - their funny, scary, moving stories. To read the book is to learn their language and thereby to learn *them*. Birdy uses dialogue as a live, shining tool, and events unfold organically through it. The title is significant - there's a mysterious little scrap of cloth that appears briefly now and again through the story, like a flicker on your peripheral vision. To me it signals the interweaving of the many individual stories and colours. They all ravel into a larger story, not just the underpinning, darker crime narrative (which, incidentally, is well-told and has a solid twist at the end), but the story of this vivid Dublin heartland, of a year in the vibrant life of it.
August 15, 2024
Ravelling by Estelle Birdy published with Lilliput Press May 9th and is described as ‘fast-paced, funny and eye-popping, it descends from Trainspotting, White Teeth and Milkman in its portrayal of urban life in the twenty-first century.'
Challenging, affecting & full of heart, Ravelling is a coming-of-age story set in The Liberties, an urban area in the inner-city of Dublin and now home to Estelle Birdy. Living and working in this neighbourhood inspired Estelle Birdy to write a compassionate tale about a bunch of disparate young lads trying to figure out their individual paths in life while struggling to survive in a society that keeps pushing them down. There is so much empathy in every page of this book, with characters that transcend the pages, making it very obvious to every reader how important getting this novel published was for Estelle Birdy. Calling on her own teenage children and their friends, she made sure that she got the ethnicity and cultural aspects as accurate as possible at any given time.
Deano, Hamza, Oisín, Benit and Karl are all Leaving Cert students with dreams for a better future yet also with the sense to realise that the odds are very much stacked against them. As they navigate their way in life, they face the dangers of the streets and the brutality of gang-related crimes. Ireland today is more diverse than it was many years ago and this has caused friction in some quarters but Estelle Birdy brilliantly depicts how five, on paper, distinctly different young men can be buddies. They don’t care about colour or creed, all they care about is friendship, trust and loyalty. Through the use of the local vernacular, these lads throw insults at each other that some may consider offensive but, as these lads are friends, they just don’t care.
I have to mention the dialect that is used throughout. Estelle Birdy brilliantly captures the very essence of the language of an inner-city Dublin teenager. As a reader you have to immerse yourself in this and literally grasp the writing style from the first chapter. Iron Annie by Luke Cassidy and Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry are two comparable reads where dialect is an important ingredient of the novel. Initially it can be tricky to understand but once you go with the flow, it’s a very immersive and authentic experience.
I mention the two books above from a dialect perspective but it is the heart-breaking novels Boys Don’t Cry by Fíona Scarlett and the epic German novel, While We Were Dreaming by Clemens Meyer, that really came to the fore for me when reading Ravelling. Boys Don’t Cry is an obvious comparison as it’s set in a similar Dublin working class environment but, from the perspective of young male friendship, While We Were Dreaming by Clemens Meyer is a very similar story. Clemens Meyer’s book is a very raw novel about a bunch of young lads growing up in Leipzig at the time of reunification in Germany in 1989. The dialogue, life circumstances and obstacles faced by these lads is comparable to Estelle Birdy’s depiction of these twenty-first century friends living in The Liberties in Dublin.
Ravelling is an outstanding first novel receiving, justifiably, incredible reviews from Donal Ryan, Karl Geary, John Boyne and Sebastian Barry. With hilarious anecdotes and first-class banter, Ravelling captures the spirit of youthful resilience and rebellion. At times it’s unflinching, but it has a massive heart and is a spectacular and uncompromising debut. And in other exciting news Ravelling has been optioned by Sleeper Films for a major TV series, so bravo Estelle Birdy.
Challenging, affecting & full of heart, Ravelling is a coming-of-age story set in The Liberties, an urban area in the inner-city of Dublin and now home to Estelle Birdy. Living and working in this neighbourhood inspired Estelle Birdy to write a compassionate tale about a bunch of disparate young lads trying to figure out their individual paths in life while struggling to survive in a society that keeps pushing them down. There is so much empathy in every page of this book, with characters that transcend the pages, making it very obvious to every reader how important getting this novel published was for Estelle Birdy. Calling on her own teenage children and their friends, she made sure that she got the ethnicity and cultural aspects as accurate as possible at any given time.
Deano, Hamza, Oisín, Benit and Karl are all Leaving Cert students with dreams for a better future yet also with the sense to realise that the odds are very much stacked against them. As they navigate their way in life, they face the dangers of the streets and the brutality of gang-related crimes. Ireland today is more diverse than it was many years ago and this has caused friction in some quarters but Estelle Birdy brilliantly depicts how five, on paper, distinctly different young men can be buddies. They don’t care about colour or creed, all they care about is friendship, trust and loyalty. Through the use of the local vernacular, these lads throw insults at each other that some may consider offensive but, as these lads are friends, they just don’t care.
I have to mention the dialect that is used throughout. Estelle Birdy brilliantly captures the very essence of the language of an inner-city Dublin teenager. As a reader you have to immerse yourself in this and literally grasp the writing style from the first chapter. Iron Annie by Luke Cassidy and Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry are two comparable reads where dialect is an important ingredient of the novel. Initially it can be tricky to understand but once you go with the flow, it’s a very immersive and authentic experience.
I mention the two books above from a dialect perspective but it is the heart-breaking novels Boys Don’t Cry by Fíona Scarlett and the epic German novel, While We Were Dreaming by Clemens Meyer, that really came to the fore for me when reading Ravelling. Boys Don’t Cry is an obvious comparison as it’s set in a similar Dublin working class environment but, from the perspective of young male friendship, While We Were Dreaming by Clemens Meyer is a very similar story. Clemens Meyer’s book is a very raw novel about a bunch of young lads growing up in Leipzig at the time of reunification in Germany in 1989. The dialogue, life circumstances and obstacles faced by these lads is comparable to Estelle Birdy’s depiction of these twenty-first century friends living in The Liberties in Dublin.
Ravelling is an outstanding first novel receiving, justifiably, incredible reviews from Donal Ryan, Karl Geary, John Boyne and Sebastian Barry. With hilarious anecdotes and first-class banter, Ravelling captures the spirit of youthful resilience and rebellion. At times it’s unflinching, but it has a massive heart and is a spectacular and uncompromising debut. And in other exciting news Ravelling has been optioned by Sleeper Films for a major TV series, so bravo Estelle Birdy.
December 31, 2024
Working class novels tend to be miserable. This one isn't. Birdy proves that you do not have to write 'misery porn' for your story to pack a punch. Don't get me wrong, there is a ton of sadness here, violence, drug use, homelessness and almost-hopelessness. But this is as much a love letter to Dublin and the Dubs as it is a social critique, infused with Irish lightheartedness and banter.
I will say that it took me a chapter or two to get into it. It felt a bit unfocused at times and could have been shorter. But it is still a very worthwhile slice-of-life novel.
I'd highly recommend it to anyone with a connection to Dublin (beyond visiting Temple Bar) and anyone who is into working class fiction. I would have loved to get a female POV - maybe Birdy's next novel will centre on working class women's experiences?
Thank you to Estelle Birdy, The Lilliput Press, and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC.
I will say that it took me a chapter or two to get into it. It felt a bit unfocused at times and could have been shorter. But it is still a very worthwhile slice-of-life novel.
I'd highly recommend it to anyone with a connection to Dublin (beyond visiting Temple Bar) and anyone who is into working class fiction. I would have loved to get a female POV - maybe Birdy's next novel will centre on working class women's experiences?
Thank you to Estelle Birdy, The Lilliput Press, and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC.
July 19, 2024
A wild ride around Dublin, chasing 5 lads during their last year in school… sport, drugs, family, girls, exams… it’s heartbreaking and funny as hell. Loved it.
November 22, 2024
Ravelling / Estelle Birdy
⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
~ Nights, nights should always be like this. Cool on your face. Lads, kings, in tune with the universe. Music thumping in your gut, in your arse. Dublin, best place in the world. Best place in the universe… ~
A refreshing trip to The Liberties. Ravelling follows 5 teenagers during their Lecaing Cert year and how it all pans out while life interjects as it does.
It’s a good insight into inner city life in 2024, what’s expected, what is assumed, but most of all how the community always stands together. The Liberties is truly the best character in this book.
The lads though stand tall, five friends through thick and thin. Showing off a vibrant multi cultural Dublin. Though a changing Dublin with some of their societies pushed and marginalised and the trust and distrust of authority.
Deano for me was the main and best character. Showing promise and growth.
Although good, I found some parts a bit too much to chance and a bit unvelieveable, but sure look it did t take away from the enjoyment. It took a while to get into, but when it got going it was deadly.
Picked up from the TBR Pile - Graiguenamanagh, Co. Kilkenny.
Bought from @thebookshopwestport - 14/09/24
Read: 11/11/24 - 22/11/24
Release Date: 09/05/24
ISBN: 9771843518648
⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
~ Nights, nights should always be like this. Cool on your face. Lads, kings, in tune with the universe. Music thumping in your gut, in your arse. Dublin, best place in the world. Best place in the universe… ~
A refreshing trip to The Liberties. Ravelling follows 5 teenagers during their Lecaing Cert year and how it all pans out while life interjects as it does.
It’s a good insight into inner city life in 2024, what’s expected, what is assumed, but most of all how the community always stands together. The Liberties is truly the best character in this book.
The lads though stand tall, five friends through thick and thin. Showing off a vibrant multi cultural Dublin. Though a changing Dublin with some of their societies pushed and marginalised and the trust and distrust of authority.
Deano for me was the main and best character. Showing promise and growth.
Although good, I found some parts a bit too much to chance and a bit unvelieveable, but sure look it did t take away from the enjoyment. It took a while to get into, but when it got going it was deadly.
Picked up from the TBR Pile - Graiguenamanagh, Co. Kilkenny.
Bought from @thebookshopwestport - 14/09/24
Read: 11/11/24 - 22/11/24
Release Date: 09/05/24
ISBN: 9771843518648
November 4, 2024
This book, set in Dublin City centre, explores the lives of five young fellas about to sit their final school exams (the Leaving Certificate). It is a compassionate portrayal of the struggles, highs and lows, faced by young inner city men about to be cut from the home umbilical to the next step into adulthood. This is fresh writing, bursting with energy, and dialogue that is almost breathing. It’s laugh out loud in some spots. The characters are from a mix of backgrounds but gel together in a friend bond that transcends differences. Deano, Karl, Benit, Hamza and Oisín… drugs, homosexuality, African migrant family, Muslim, Irish earthy mother respectively. A great and compassionate insight into young men’s lives. Would translate well to screen.
July 25, 2024
One of the things that marks out good fiction for me is when you start to slow down or ration your reading towards the end of the book because you really don't want to stop living alongside the characters. You like these people and just want to know what happens after the final page.
The main characters in Ravelling are well rounded and authentic voices for their generation with tragic/happy/funny/hopeful stories set in a contemporary and ferociously working class Dublin City. The book takes you from surreal knock about comedy moments at a funeral and at hurling practice to the darker side of growing up and having it really tough. Crime, racism, navigating love in our pornified age, drug use, male friendship, colonialism are all to be found - but not in a preachy way. The sharp but good natured mockery of the gentrified parts of the City and the people who occupy them is a complete joy!
A thoroughly enjoyable Irish, urban coming of age story and a brilliant debut from Estelle Birdy.
The main characters in Ravelling are well rounded and authentic voices for their generation with tragic/happy/funny/hopeful stories set in a contemporary and ferociously working class Dublin City. The book takes you from surreal knock about comedy moments at a funeral and at hurling practice to the darker side of growing up and having it really tough. Crime, racism, navigating love in our pornified age, drug use, male friendship, colonialism are all to be found - but not in a preachy way. The sharp but good natured mockery of the gentrified parts of the City and the people who occupy them is a complete joy!
A thoroughly enjoyable Irish, urban coming of age story and a brilliant debut from Estelle Birdy.
June 28, 2024
What a read. The book is set in the Liberties of Dublin and as someone who grew up there it rings true and grittily authentic. The five main characters, teenage boys on the cusp of manhood, are vividly drawn, each with their own struggles and dreams. Their dialogue crackles with energy and perfectly captures the Dublin vernacular. Although hilarious, the novel doesn't shy away from the harsh realities of poverty, violence and drugs but they are portrayed with a raw honesty that makes the characters' resilience all the more powerful.
"Ravelling" is a funny, moving, and eye-opening coming-of-age story that avoids cliché and pat conclusions. It's a fast-paced read, full of heart and highly recommended.
"Ravelling" is a funny, moving, and eye-opening coming-of-age story that avoids cliché and pat conclusions. It's a fast-paced read, full of heart and highly recommended.
July 3, 2024
I really enjoyed this book. It’s surging with energy and love for Dublin 8 in all its complexities. Birdy shows the many sides of the area through her funny, irreverent characters. The writing flows and bursts with local voices and turns of phrase. It’s funny, heart wrenching and heartwarming.
July 15, 2025
I’ve had conflicting feelings about whether I would rate this book, as after finishing the book I found out that the author, Estelle Birdy, is strongly transphobic (posts on X and speaking at in-person transphobic events.)
I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was brilliantly written and it seemed that the author really got into the mindset and understood the characters she was portraying, despite not growing up in the community she writes about. It could have easily fallen into stereotypes or become exaggerated, but it didn’t, which I commend her for.
What I can’t understand is how someone can write a book with so much empathy and understanding for one minority, yet show a complete disregard for another. Finding out about the author’s blatant attacking of the trans community has somewhat tainted the book for me. I can’t “separate the art from the artist.” Very disappointed, as I really enjoyed the book before knowing this.
I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was brilliantly written and it seemed that the author really got into the mindset and understood the characters she was portraying, despite not growing up in the community she writes about. It could have easily fallen into stereotypes or become exaggerated, but it didn’t, which I commend her for.
What I can’t understand is how someone can write a book with so much empathy and understanding for one minority, yet show a complete disregard for another. Finding out about the author’s blatant attacking of the trans community has somewhat tainted the book for me. I can’t “separate the art from the artist.” Very disappointed, as I really enjoyed the book before knowing this.
July 8, 2024
A hard-hitting and yet at times poetic and fantastical whirlwind of a book, this is a tale set in Dublin's inner city, half way through gentrification. The focus is on four young men at the end of their school years, and the style owes a bit to Roddy Doyle, but instead of the latter's sentimentality we have a smattering of magical realism and an artful play with language that feels original and delights the intellect. At the end of this book I felt that I knew the young men as friends, and the need to know what would happen in the next stage of their lives. Looking forward to the next chapter of this saga.
May 27, 2025
Ravelling by Estelle Birdy is a love letter to Dublin as 5 teenage boys do the 'Leaving'. The language bounces about the Liberties and beyond. Will Deano get the girl? avoid the gangs and worse? Will Karl break free and go Skying? Why do white people love hummus so much? It's gloriously funny and Un PC. Cause only your mates can call you fat and mean it. And only your friends can take a slaggin that far. Waiting for part 2. Hope for a TV series. More Love/Love than Love/Hate.
May 12, 2024
A wonderful, hilarious story of young lives in Dublin inner city. You can really hear the voice of each of the characters, their sense of humour and their struggles with study, relationships, navigating the problems of socioeconomic struggles. Each character is loveable and well written, and you really get a sense of the area and community. 10/10
July 10, 2024
A very strong sense of place. This novel takes the reader straight to heart of The Liberties in Dublin 8. Its voices are full of all the emotions, trials, hopes and worries of young men the world over.
Funny and poignant in equal measure, this novel will delight Dubliners and those further afield.
Highly recommended!
Funny and poignant in equal measure, this novel will delight Dubliners and those further afield.
Highly recommended!
September 17, 2024
This book is well written, especially the dialogue. There were a lot of characters to keep track of. I think I would have connected to it more had I been to the setting of the novel. While this book wasn’t my favorite and a bit long for me, I think this book will be a hit.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for my copy.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for my copy.
November 24, 2025
This book felt like I was having a conversation with friends.
It unravels at the boiling point of youth; on the cusp of something more.
You feel that each time you’re reacting with a character in their respective chapter.
It’s rare to pick up a book and no from the outset you’ll enjoy it.
That was this book for me
It unravels at the boiling point of youth; on the cusp of something more.
You feel that each time you’re reacting with a character in their respective chapter.
It’s rare to pick up a book and no from the outset you’ll enjoy it.
That was this book for me
July 24, 2024
Fell in love with the characters in this book from the first chapters. The descriptions of the streets, areas and characters that make Dublin special are so visual you feel you’re right there. Great read.
August 18, 2024
Loving this book- a guaranteed 5 star read. The Guardian captured its brilliance in this recent review. https://amp.theguardian.com/books/art...
March 29, 2025
Ravelling by Estelle Birdy is her debut novel and it doesn’t disappoint. It follows the lives of 5 teenage boys in the final school year, growing up in the heart of Dublin City liberties .. their dreams, heart break, drugs , sex parties and harassment with the guards.
May 6, 2025
The way that this book is written reveals the texture of the characters and the physical place so well. Cute and sad coming of age story. Lowkey didn't exactly understand what was going on some of the time due to the writing style but I ain't a dubliner so can't get mad about that.
May 13, 2025
A whirlwind of love, language (much of it 'bad'), young manhood and dope. This is an immersive experience - it sucks you right into the heart of Dublin. I didn't want to leave the 5 lads and their mad city.
September 17, 2025
I got about 60% of the way through this book before giving up. To me, it read a lot like a cultural appropriation of inner city working class Dublin, from the perspective of an author far removed from that background. The narrative awkwardly strung along. Not for me.
June 14, 2024
Absolutely fascinating witty insight into inner city life in Dublin
July 1, 2024
A good story well told, I was sorry to leave those boys.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews