Kraljica Ostrva blata

by Donal Ryan, Igor Solunac (Translator)

Uprkos čestim svađama i dramatičnim scenama, dom žena iz porodice Ejlvord je mesto ispunjeno ljubavlju, utočište od tuge i okrutnosti sveta. Nana, glava porodice, sahranila je dva sina, a svoj život posvetila je porodičnom imanju. Njena snaja, Ajlin, nosi ožiljke zbog odbačenosti i tragičnog gubitka, dok unuka Serša odrasta pod budnim okom i zaštitom ovih dveju snažnih žena, koje su rešene da joj osiguraju bolji život u okruženju usidrenom u prošlosti.

Kada budu morale da se suoče sa borbom za nasledstvo Ostrva blata – uskog pojasa zemlje pored Ajlininog doma iz detinjstva – sve tri će tek tada istinski razumeti dubinu korena koji ih neraskidivo povezuju.

Višestruko nagrađivani irski autor Donal Rajan donosi nam priču o bolnim izdajama i nepokolebljivoj odanosti, o slomljenom srcu i oproštaju, ali pre svega – o ljubavi. Kraljica Ostrva blata je uzvišeno svedočanstvo o izdržljivosti ljudskog duha, oda porodici, ženskom zajedništvu i moći nasleđa koje oblikuje generacije.

„Tri generacije žena iz porodice Ejlvord će vam slomiti srce, a zatim ga ponovo sastaviti.”
Megi O’Farel

„Dragulj od romana koji će sigurno postati klasik.”
The Daily Express

Genres: Fiction, Ireland, Historical Fiction, Irish Literature, Book Club, Audiobook, Literary Fiction

175 pages, Paperback

First published August 18, 2022

About the author

Donal Ryan is the author of the novels The Spinning Heart, The Thing About December, the short-story collection A Slanting of the Sun, and the forthcoming novel All We Shall Know. He holds a degree in Law from the University of Limerick, and worked for the National Employment Rights Authority before the success of his first two novels allowed him to pursue writing as a full-time career.

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Queen of Dirt Island is a slice of life… Life as it is… With its long sorrows and short joys…
Everything begins with a birth of a daughter and the death of her father… The daughter is a heroine of the story…

She was four in her earliest memory, or maybe just turned five.
It was springtime so it must have been near her birthday. The cherry blossom tree was heavily flowered at the edge of the small front garden; it was itself the greater part of the memory.

There are three women in the household: a daughter, her mother and her grandmother… She is growing surrounded with care of her mother and love of her granny… School and friends… A wish to be loved… Tumult of youth… She is pregnant… Her mother is furious… No way to get back to innocence…

Seventeen years and ten months after her mother, after a half-day of labour, she came crying into the world. Her grandmother and great-grandmother attended her birth, despite the snooty midwife and the shooing nurses.

Now there are four women… Life continues… Living is full of vicissitudes…
Despite all the lies and deception there still are enouth truth and kindness in the world.

[Paromjit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Donal Ryan exquisitely explores an Irish family, four generations of women living together through the years in a small house on an estate in rural Tipperary, outside the town of Nenagh. All the Aylward women have a deep abiding love for each other, but you could be forgiven for not seeing just how mad they are about each other, you would have to see beyond the abusive and loud foul mouthed rancour and conversations that might be overheard by neighbours and other outsiders.

The novel is constructed of short chapters that provide a series of vignettes of the dramas of life, a vibrant picture painted of family and community, the tragedies, comedy, birth, love, loss, judgementalism and murderous impulses. In the Aylward home it is said 'You only get one life, and no woman should spend any part of it being friends with men. That’s not what men are for.'

There is Eileen, her dead husband's mother, Nana, her daughter, Saoirse, on occasions joined by Honey and Kit and Josh’s mother Moll, and Moll’s friend and alleged lover Ellen Jackman, and Doreen, all overflowing with love for Saoirse's almost immaculately conceived daughter, 'Pearl, the perfect little queen, fat with love.' Ellen Jackman says 'Aren’t we the queerest coven that ever stirred a pot?' Yes, from Strange Flowers we have Kit Gladney and the return of her prodigal grandson and writer, Joshua, arriving with his girlfriend Honey. Josh and Honey become godparents to Pearl, there is Chris's surprising marriage to Doreen, Eileen's protective headbutting incident and Paudie's connections with the IRA. Eileen's family rejected and ostracised her, her brother Richard a real horror, a contemptible piece of work, a depiction of the poison, meanness and spite in the world.

One of the major highlights of Ryan's novels is his spellbinding lyrical prose, and then there is the dialogue that shines in his beguiling storytelling here. I loved this from beginning to end, savouring every word, the stellar characters of the women, astounding, battling the world, providing protection from the censorious, showing us what a family could be and what it may not be. This is a outstanding and beautiful read, of life, the joys, love, loss, grief, relationships, sex, laughter, the thrills and heartbreak, a book I highly recommend. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

[Angela M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Donal Ryan’s writing appealed to me from the first book I read by him The Thing About December. His beautiful prose, moving stories and characters who you want so much for are reflected in the three I have read. I know for sure now that I want to read everything he’s written. I’m happy I have a few more to go.

This is a short novel comprised of short chapters, days in the lives, moments in time, over years in the lives of four generations of women. Eileen, her mother-in-law Nana, her daughter Saoirse, Saoirse’s daughter Pearl live together a house in Ireland in a small village . They spend their days dealing with the stuff of life - births and deaths, the past and their present, happiness and adversity. Two of them cursing each other and yelling one minute, holding hands and caring for each other the next. Yet , this is a house filled with so much love ; there’s nothing these women wouldn’t do for each other. It’s a story of relationships, but not only with each other, but with fathers, dead or estranged , with lovers, with other family members, with friends from this small rural place. It’s about the power of women, their strength and their love. It’s multi layered with a nod to writing and why not from such a fantastic writer? When I finished this I gave it four stars, but think about it further as I wrote this, it’s deserving of 5 stars.

I received a copy of this from Viking/Penguin Random House through Edelweiss.

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy…. F ….. I need to catch my breath. Incredible experience and feelings reading this book. WOW!! Just WOW!!!
I’ll return with a review later. I need time to digest.
Phenomenal — EXQUISITE writing!!!!

Review…..
Connecting to this novel was a harmonious experience for me from the first word: “End”….
I started reading out loud….just to hear the words ….sing and echo….
….. “She was born”.
“Small but healthy, a fortnight early. Through a soft, misty rain on her third morning her father drove her home, slowly, swaddled tight against her mothers chest, her mother, kissing her cheek over and over”.

And then….such a horrible tragedy….one that took me back to my own childhood too….(an instant father’s death that changed life forever….for the women remaining).

I was four when my father died. An older sister, almost ten.
Our mother never recovered from his death. ….
But….
we were a family of women. My aunt Gladys and Aunt Micky were over playing cards with my mom often.
My grandmother, Cookie, (my father’s mother), took me to her cottage in Calistoga during the summers after my father died. My mom, aunts, cousins joined for weekend visits…playing Bingo outside on hot summer nights.
I had two uncles: one from my mother’s side - one from my father’s who gave me little gifts - but I was a fatherless child ….
Growing up ….I was aware that other kids had fathers …but I only knew what living with women were like.
After giving birth to two girls, myself, I use to wonder — what it felt like for a woman to grow a penis inside her.
Or …wonder with fascination..about the single girlfriend with a house filled with brothers.

In “The Queen of Dirt Island”, Saoirse grows up in a house with no men. The women are loud (reminding me of my mom and aunts screaming at each other over a card game — chain-smoking and many cups of coffee).
Later, Saoirse gives birth to a daughter, Pearl, who changes everyone’s lives.
The Irish women in “The Queen of Dirt Island” as we come to know them — have many multifaceted sides. They are wise, funny, opinionated….and certainly have each endured their share of heartbreak struggles.

The ending of this novel is hopeful ….
But from pages just ‘before’ …..I literally loss my breath….from the ways ‘fierce and tender’ connects our heart and thoughts together.
The styling is unique…..(tight beginning and ending bookends)….with full-bodied stories in the middle highlighting every angle of humanity.

Donal Ryan’s set this story in Nenagh, Tipperary….( a town for all seasons), a rural community island in Ireland….and parts in the Limerick region —wonderful historical atmosphere.

We meet Mary Aylward, a widow who develops a relationship with her son’s widow, Eileen….(who was rejected by her own family for having been pregnant before marriage). Mary and Eileen become best friends: a fascinating, inspiring, and unusual close friendship.
And…
Saoirse is raised by strong Irish women.
Memories in this story kept pulling me in …. continuously pulling on my emotions. ….
Ryan’s writing is so very ‘awe-inspiring’ …. often reads like poetry or music. I hope to read every book he’s written. LOVE HIS WRITING!
His gorgeous sentences and paragraphs emotionally let us ‘feel’ something…..and I thought his fragment styling — watching the years go by — worked well for this novel.

I read several excerpts…over and over ….taking a little something different away each time.

Here are a few excerpt favorites:

“She was four in her, earliest memory, or maybe just turned five”.
“It was spring time so it must’ve been near her birthday. The cherry blossom tree was heavily flowered at the edge of the small front garden; it was itself the greater part of the memory. Or maybe it was her birthday, because someone was taking a photograph, and she was standing beneath the cherry blossom tree, with sunlight, dancing green and pink across the grass, her grandmother, on one side of her, and her mother, on the other side, each of them, holding one of her hands, as though they might, at any moment, start to tug in their opposite directions, and pull her clean apart”.
“But that violence must have attached itself to the memory afterwards”.

“Every other house, in the smallest state that had children, and it also had a father, a living one”.
“None of them looked like they were as much use, except for cutting grass with the same shared lawnmower, taking turns to cut the verges and the small green area at the front of the estate and the smaller green at the back. Most of them worked in the village town 4 miles from the village, leaving in the mornings, wearing jackets and coming home and shirt, sleeves, smoking, as they parked their cars. Some of them drove vans with their names on the sides, or the names of businesses, advertising their services, a plumber, a carpenter, a wholesale butcher, and electrician”.

“Aren’t you pretty, she said. Little Love, you are. Our daddies went to Heaven on the same day. Did you know that? And something in the woman’s voice, the sadness in the way she said the word — daddies — made Saoirse cry, and she was shocked at her tears, their suddenness, the heat of them on her face, and the woman took her fully in her arms then, and she pressed her lips softly against Saoirse’s wet cheek, whispering, Little pet. God help us”.
NOTE….growing up, I, too, felt sadness around the word ‘daddies’.

“We can only go back in our minds and even then we’re going back to something that doesn’t exist except the way a dream exists. So we can forget changing the past and all we can do is look after our present moment, planting good seeds in it so that our next moments might be fruitful”.

“Saoirse remembered how Mother and Nana always blessed themselves at the bend of the road where her father had been killed, and again, she felt a pang of guilt at her absence of grief, for never having knelt there and cried”.
NOTE….I often felt a pang of guilt over not feeling the grief as my mom did, too. I felt guilty if I were happy when I knew my mother wasn’t. ….so I started hiding my joy…I felt from friends.

“Happiness was a strange notion, something that was wrapped neatly, and packed into the closing scenes of television shows and daytime films, sharply relieved on the screen, but blurry in real life, a vague ideal”.

Much to take in….from ‘The Queen of Dirt Island’.
Rubbish chatter…
Glimmers of the truth…
Wild imaginations…
Mortification and shame…
Distractions…
Resentments…
Bloodshot eyes…
Forgiveness & reconciliation
Kissing…
Memories of pleasure…
Drizzling skies…
Nana’s stories…
….stories of secret gays, swinging couples, violent husband, faithless wives, transvestites, sex rings, drug rings, covered-up murders…
….[she stayed away from subversive activity and gunrunning or anything that might strike too close to Nana’s bones]
Fruitcake…
Sweet smiles…
Laughter…
Screaming…
Cows, chickens, and baby lambs…
Warm fantasies…
Soggy grass and a dirty pond…
Depths of distant sadness…
A world contracting and expanding…

A full rainbow novel…..
…pain….love…..gratefulness of our Mothers……etc. etc.

[Melissa ~ Bantering Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s just something about Irish writers. To me, Irish prose is often the embodiment of the beauty of the written word. The unique style, the clever turns of phrase, the flowing cadence of it – I am drawn to it all.

Which is why I found The Queen of Dirt Island to be so captivating.

Donal Ryan’s tale of four generations of the Aylward women is lovely in both word and story. Set in rural Ireland in the 1980s, the novel follows the lives of Nana, Eileen, Saoirse, and Pearl, all of whom are bound together by fiery love and unwavering loyalty.

Decades pass as the pages turn. In short, snippet-like chapters, Ryan tells us of the women’s joy and triumph, their heartbreak and loss, and we feel it in our gut, right alongside them.

The Queen of Dirt Island is a moving and insightful exploration of family – of what it is and what it isn’t. I enjoyed every exquisite word.


The Queen of Dirt Island will be published on February 28, 2023.

Thanks to Melissa Crytzer Fry for a fun buddy read. Be sure to check out her review, too.


My sincerest appreciation to Donal Ryan, Viking, and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy. All opinions included herein are my own.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Queen of Dirt Island is a book that I wasn't sure about in the beginning. I didn't think I was going to enjoy it at all. Then, it was as if this book silently walked up behind me, tapped me on the shoulder and grabbed my attention. Initially, I struggled with the short chapters and writing style but was soon won over.

The Aylward women of Nenagh have an interesting relationship. They argue, they fight, they stand up for each other, they support each other, they love each other as only people do who have a tight bond. I enjoyed their family unit and how they live in their own safe place. They face trials, heartbreak, family drama, love, and regret.

This book about four generations of women living in one home. The book begins after a baby is born and a father dies. It shows the life of a grandmother, the life of single mother, the life of her child, and her child. I loved their strong bonds and the descriptions of the community and surrounding areas in which they live. While I initially struggled with the writing, in the end, I savored it.

This was my first book by Donal Ryan and I look forward to reading more of his books in the future.

#TheQueenofDirtIsland #NetGalley #Viking

Thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Viking, Viking and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com

[PattyMacDotComma · Rating 5 out of 5]

5★
“She realized that she and her mother rarely spoke properly at all. That most of Mother’s speech was indirect, utterances flung around like fistfuls of confetti, vaguely aimed and scattered randomly. But she supposed this to be the way of all parent and child relationships.”

Unlike Mother’s speech, Donal Ryan’s writing flows across the pages, sometimes in long, lyrical sentences, sometimes in short punchy phrases. I absolutely love it! I will warn those who care about such things that Ryan doesn’t use quotation marks nor do I think they are needed. Everything rund so smoothly that it sounds completely natural to me.

This is the story of the women of Ireland and some of their men. The focus is on the women, particularly on Saoirse, and how Saoirse, Mother, and Nana’s feisty spirits enable them to cope with trouble and The Troubles. In addition to religious conflict, Ireland is beset by the same social problems and protests as elsewhere: race, abortions, poverty, inequality, the list goes on.

When there are absent fathers and brothers, uncles may step in to help, which isn’t always welcome. They can try to be domineering (good luck with these women), but the banter between characters means we sometimes have to read between the lines to understand the real affection that is there.

I had read a few chapters of this, relishing the familiar style and pace, and then I was sure some of the names and places were familiar. There was nothing for it but to go back and browse through Strange Flowers, which I had read and loved early last year. Sure enough, this picks up some of the same characters and farms and villages. It wasn’t necessary to know that, but it made it that much more enjoyable for me.

There are unwed teen mothers – oh, the shame, but oh, the loyalty. There are abusive fathers and brothers – but oh, how hard their lives are on poor farms and with The Troubles. Mother and Nana in particular gossip and argue and rant and call each other dreadful names – and then have a cup of tea, setting aside their differences.

I’ll give a long example of Mother dealing with the social services officer who has been sent to their home to enquire about teen-aged Saoirse’s well-being. Remember that everybody knows everybody.

“Concepta Quirke? Nana suddenly said. Are you Nonie Quirke’s daughter? I am, the lady said. And what are you doing going around to people’s houses tormenting them? Are you not married? I am married, the red-faced lady said. I’ve been married five years now. And would you not go home and look after your husband besides driving the roads looking for trouble where none exists? It’s my job, the lady said, and Saoirse’s curiosity now was at a screaming pitch inside her; she wanted badly to know who the lady was and what torments she was inflicting on people. She found herself enjoying Nana’s interrogations and the way that Mother was smiling at the woman, dragging on her cigarette and blowing the smoke in a thin line over the lady’s head; she could feel the disdain that Mother felt for the dumpy short-haired woman, her easy superiority.

Go on, Mother said. Tell me, Concepta, what’s on your mind? What kind of a poison-pen letter did you get this time? Am I a prostitute or a murderer or a gun-runner or what is it now? Now, now, the lady said, there’s no need to be like that. Not half there’s not, Mother said. Come on, Concepta, get it over with. ‘Coronation Street’ is starting in ten minutes.”

Such a satisfying encounter. I can just picture the woman gradually shrinking under their fierce defence.

I won’t attempt to explain Ryan’s descriptive powers, just give another example. Once, when Saoirse was very young, Nana began reminiscing, almost to herself.

”Saoirse couldn’t quite follow her grandmother’s words. They felt like a stream of sparkling water that the sun was shining on so fiercely that you couldn’t quite see the stream itself but just the light off it, blazing up from the earth and into your eyes, like the stream that ran down from the hills and through the village and into the callaghs where it met the lake. A stream of sadness, she thought, and she was happy with the words, thinking that she should write them down somewhere.”

Great characters, great story, the best writing.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Doubleday for the copy for review.

My review of Strange Flowers

[Ceecee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a novel about the four generations of strong warrior Aylward women and is set in Nenagh, Co Tipperary from the 1980’s onwards. It starts on the day Saoirse is born when her father and paternal grandfather are killed. It focuses on the family left behind after the tragedy.There‘s Nana Mary, her daughter-in-law Eileen, grand daughter Saoirse and great granddaughter Pearl. They are all cut from similar cloth in that they are strong of spine and full of opinions. To paraphrase the authors words they’re an odd coven that stirs the pot which sums them up to perfection.

One of the greatest strengths of the novel is the first-class dialogue through which you not only hear them but also see them. Sometimes, you hear Nana a tad too clearly(!) though they all have their moments! You are fully engaged and almost transfixed by their interactions which are sometimes harmonious and sometimes not as they can argue with some ferocity.

You understand with clarity the bond of Mary and Eileen and how important they are to each other, the bond forged by their joint loss. These two seem to be the most sharply focused characters as they dominate the female branch of the family but also the extended one.

The tone at times is subdued, at others it melancholic as it is not always a happy tale but it captures the family perfectly and also what it is to live in rural Ireland where appearances are everything. It covers a lot of ground in its short length as it deals at various times with gun running, grief, loneliness and betrayal via the family dynamics and dysfunction.

It is beautifully written, it flows with elegance and with acute understanding of the characters. What we view is very powerful and at other times it’s understated and thoughtful. These people may be ordinary but Donal Ryan has made them extra-ordinary.

Overall, this character driven novel is lyrical and poetic, at others it is almost magical with short sharp chapters that are self-contained. The author has transported me to a country I love and one that he clearly does too. A wonderful novel.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Random House UK/Transworld for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this story!

Set in rural County Tipperary from the 1980s..
It begins with birth and death.
Saoirse is born and three days after, her father brings her and his wife home from the hospital, and drives to work..
“as happy as a man could be, as good a man as a man could be, and met his death on the bend of the road near Nenagh”.
As the story moves along we eventually see the relationship of four generations of women in this family all together in the one house..
Saoirse, her mom, her paternal grandmother and later her own daughter.
In very short chapters we see their relationships through many trials.. and the outspoken Nana is such a hoot!
They are all fiercely loyal, loving, straightforward..
I wanted to live there too.

I think I own all of this author’s books, but this is only the second one I’ve read… I will read them all!

Big thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Group Viking for the ARC!

[Cheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Last year, on my drive to get my initial COVID shot, I listened to Donal Ryan’s ’From a Low and Quiet Sea’, which was my second book by him that I ‘read.’ The year before that I’d read his debut, ’The Spinning Heart’ and found it very moving, as well. He has a way of bringing the people in his stories to life in a way that I can truly visualize, and those who populate his stories have always felt like people I feel that I know, not just characters in a story.

This story shares the lives of a family over several generations, with the majority of the focus is on the women. While there are men who come and go, this is really a story of their love and devotion to fostering an aura of loyalty to protecting and promoting each other.

’She was born.’

’Small but healthy, a fortnight early. Through a soft misty rain on her third morning her father drove her home, slowly swaddled tight against her mother’s chest, her mother kissing her cheek over and over.’

Her father had to leave as soon as he dropped them off at home, off to work with little sleep but with his mind on his wife and new daughter, realizing how much life would change, and his heart was light with the joys that it would bring. In a moment of wanting to share his bliss, he stops for a moment when he sees a man walking and offers him a ride. The man climbs in the car, and thanks him, and her father shares his good news. In that moment of joy, the man congratulates him on his news and shares his congratulations, and laughter ensues. Soon they would both be gone, their lives gone in a flash.

Saoirse is the name she was given, despite her mother’s objections, and after much back and forth with the priest. The fourth in generations of women in this story of family, living in this rural spot in Ireland.

There is much beauty to be had in the landscape, which is beautifully shared throughout this story. The beauty is balanced against darker episodes throughout the lives of this family, and throughout there is a sense of the women in this family supporting each other, sharing their stories of those who came before so Saoirse knows about her father, and other family members who have passed before she had a chance to know them herself. Although they may not always see eye-to-eye on things, this is a tight knit family, and there is much love there.

Eventually Saoirse reaches her teen years, and eventually Pearl will join this family of women, which will be one of the many things that set the neighbors gossiping about the Aylward family. Not that they haven’t been gossiping about them already, especially Eileen, Saoirse’s mother whose nickname since childhood has been the ’Queen of Dirt Island’, hence the title.

Set in one of Tipperary’s villages, one of those beautiful areas I remember visiting once upon a time several years ago, I found this to be an incredibly moving story of people that live seemingly ordinary lives, but whose stories I doubt I will ever forget. A story of deception but also loyalty, of seclusion and the bond of families, of passion as well as love. A story of family, the stories of generations that came before that will live on as their stories are shared with the generations that follow.



Pub Date: 28 Feb 2023

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Penguin Group Viking / Viking

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Queen of Dirt Island should give you pause.

Donal Ryan has a way with words. Many words. Words that lift the spirit and words that crush the very same. If there is one thing that I walked away with after reading this beautifully rendered novel is just how thorny human nature is. It is so easy to judge the mistakes of others. The difficulty in life is recognizing your own.

The Irish are a stubborn lot. I come from a long line of them. Easy to gaze upon, but challenging to co-exist with at times. And we'll see this loudly and sometimes in whispers in Donal Ryan's latest work. He centers this windstorm within his lead female character, Saoirse Aylward. Saoirse is a fatherless child born into a family of strong-hearted women. She catches our eye because she is a true pillar of what it means when we give people places in our lives that they don't deserve.

We'll follow the daily happenings of Saoirse's mother, Eileen the widow, along with Saoirse's grandmother, Nana, also a widow. Ryan dabbles in outright humor here and there and with outrageous dialogue. If you know the Irish, you know that it's part of the package. Ryan knows well of "the troubles" that visit upon families from within and those that also leave scorched marks from the outside world. You certainly don't have to be Irish to know this up front and personal.

There will be characters that infiltrate the lives of the Aylward family that are mean-spirited and treacherous and they will have a massive impact. And then there will be the tyranny and cruelty channeled from the outstretched hands of their very own. But there is one thing that Donal Ryan will leave you with......the rhythm and the cadence of their voices.....painfully human and wonderfully triumphant.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Viking Press and to the talented Donal Ryan for the opportunity.

[Andy Marr · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't often say this, but this novel could have been a hundred pages longer. Still, it was a super story of love and death, friends and family, and it certainly won't be the last of Ryan's books I'll read.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shortlisted for the 2022 An Post Irish Book Awards Novel of The Year.

My Bookstagram review: https://www.instagram.com/p/CharYxhMI...

The house was filled with women. Mother and Nana and Saoirse and Honey and Kit and Josh’s mother Moll, and Moll’s old friend and alleged lover Ellen Jackman, and Doreen, quiet but friendly and no sign about her of the harridan that Nana had made her out to be, and in the centre of all of them, sitting up and trying her best to move around her soft-edged space, grizzling now and then against her cutting buds of teeth, smiling at the rank of women smiling back at her, delighted with and fascinated by all the sounds and smells and shapes and textures of her universe, was Pearl, a perfect little queen, fat with love. Ellen Jackman said: Aren’t we the queerest coven that ever stirred a pot? And they all laughed.

This is the sixth novel by the best selling and much recognised (including twice Booker longlisted) Irish author Donal Ryan, whose previous novel “Strange Flowers” won the Irish Book Awards Best Novel Prize in 2020 (he having previously won the Best Newcomer and Best Short Story categories).

This book will I think appeal hugely to “Strange Flowers” as it is a fairly direct follow up to that book (albeit one which can easily be read standalone) featuring a new and very striking four generational group of women alongside a group of characters from the previous novel.

The book begins with a tragedy – as a new father (of a girl of less than two weeks and as yet unnamed) is killed in a car crash. Then we move forwards to the family left behind – the young girl Saoirse, her mother Eillen and the matriarchal Nana (already widowed and now bereft of her favourite son, leaving her two remaining sons, the rather simple Chris and the increasingly IRA-missed up Paulie to run the nearby farm).

Unlike “Strange Flowers” which I described as having “writing [which] is languid and full of empathy, character insight and gentle description” – this book is set out in a series of 2 page chapters/vignettes, which makes the book very easy to navigate and read, but I felt on balance subtracted from the book’s literary merits.

It does however showcase Ryan’s ability, alongside quieter writing (the book opens with two melancholic, reflective chapters) to bring to life the lively and abusive dialogue between Mother and the quick witted and foul mouthed Nana – as well as their reputation among and interaction with the locals around them.

What it also does is allow the story to move forward naturally over the years at a pace: we see Saoirse grow up and grow increasingly rebellious herself, we come to realise that Eileen is estranged from her posher/more respectable own family due to her unmarried pregnancy, that Paulie’s paramilitary involvement becomes more serious and results in torture and then detention, that Chris’s resulting solitude turns him away from what seems a life of inevitable bachelor-hood to marriage to a town girl (Doreen) who has a wary relationship with the other women in the family. Saoirse then has a baby (after a fleeting encounter with a later famous singer) – Pearl who forms the fourth generation of the family but whose birth also reveals a terrible void at the heart of Doreen’s life .

Saoirse took a doleful stock of herself. Twenty-one years of age with a three-year-old daughter. No Leaving Certificate, never even had a job. Never really had a proper boyfriend, except Oisín who’d hardly been more than a crush that grew into an obsession in her mid-teens and ended in a burst of anger in an alleyway in Nenagh. Her greatest joy in life, besides her daughter, whose unlikely father didn’t know she was alive, and outside of the narrow confines of the bungalow she lived in with her mother and her grandmother in a small estate in a village that nobody’d ever heard of, tucked between a hillside and a lake, was a friendship that seemed now to have ended with a girl from London whom she’d loved and, almost completely unknown to herself, been jealous of, in equal measure.

At one stage when Nana has one of a number of turns (which later develop into more serious medical incidents) she is found by Kit Gadney and later jokingly mistakes a black nurse for Alexander Elmwood – and suddenly we are in the world of “Strange Flowers”, even more so when the prodigal Joshua and Honey return to Ireland and become friends of Saoirse.

In a meta fictional conceit Joshua - who we remember as a writer from the first novel – asks Saoirse to write down her memories and stories for him to use as a base for a novel. I was unclear in the first novel if we were meant to see Joshua as a good writer (as some of his work – in particular his biblical story rewrite - is included as part of the novel) but here there is less doubt as Joshua turns Saoirse’s family story into a sensationalist terrorist one, and there is a nice twist at the end as Pearly sits her Leaving Exams (which I much preferred to the deliberately withheld but not terribly dramatic revelations of “Strange Flowers”.)

Overall for me, while enjoyable, this felt not just as a “novel of two halves” but more like two disparate novels stitched together. I very much enjoyed the opening but as the book progressed I missed the main focus being on the two oldest women and the teenage Saoirse and their lively interactions and rather resented the “Strange Flower” characters having a greater influence on this one at the same time that the novel seemed to lose much of its uniqueness. However, this probably reflects my ambivalence towards that novel and fans of “Strange Flowers” will I think feel very differently.

My thanks to Random House UK for an ARC via NetGalley

[Michael -- Justice for Renee & Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bickering, Laughing, Loving

Eileen is a widow, living in Tipperary with her “spirited” mother-in-law Nana, and raising Saoirse– born the same day as her father died in an auto accident. The two older women fight constantly, trade barbs, weather hardships and tragedies– and love each other immensely. The impassioned bonding holding this family together is unbreakable; it is the delicacy of the book.


We watch Saoirse growing up from birth to motherhood, and while she appears initially to be the focus of the novel, the relationship between the older women upstages all else. The humor and joy and laughter these women share elevates this story to a celebration of the world they live in.

The book was labeled a multi-generational novel and I paused, envisioning a long and stuffy, winding-family-tree sort of affair. But no, every chapter is 500 words, and this is not a gimmick, it keeps the pacing brisk. Donal Ryan, rapidly becoming a favorite author of mine, has taken an everyday journey of life in Ireland and has painted a heartwarming portrait of a remarkable family. Highly recommended, five brilliant stars.

Thank you to Viking Penguin and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. #TheQueenofDirtIsland #NetGalley

[Dem · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought it, I read, But I didn’t love it.

Having read and absolutely loved Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan, I was really excited to get my hand on his latest book. However I just couldn’t connect with the characters, found the story lacked luster and the book dragged for me.

This novel celebrates the lives of Four generations of Aylward women from Tipperary. Through life’s ups and downs these women have each other’s backs. A story of love and loss, strength and loyalty.

I love Donal’s writing but for me this was a struggle to get through. It’s a short and I felt it dragged. There wasn’t enough bite in the story to keep me interested and I felt myself tuning out half way through the book. Having said my bookish friends are loving this one and therefore I am in the minority in my opinion.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous and raw, The Queen of Dirt Island surprised and delighted me. Although the author imposes a structural constraint on his narrative — each chapter is exactly 500 words — Donal Ryan shows no restraint in revealing the emotional and physical depth of his characters' lives.

Mary, Eileen and Saoirse are three generations of women living together in contemporary Co. Tipperary. Eileen is widowed just days after Saoirse's birth and estranged from her own family because of her premarital pregnancy, she moves in with her mother-in-law. The two women become best friends and co-parents of beloved Saoirse. Although grounded in love, their lives are marked by conflict and tragedy. Of Eileen’s two remaining sons, one gets caught up in IRA activity and the other marries a broken young woman. Saoirse herself breaks her mother’s heart when she becomes pregnant just shy of her 18th birthday in an encounter she scarcely remembers, on a night when her best friend is brutalized. Despite her dubious conception and the abstract disappointment in her existence, Pearl — daughter, granddaughter, great-granddaughter, niece and goddaughter — becomes this family’s cherished treasure. Eileen is entangled in a property fight with her menacing older brother, Mary loses her family’s legacy as the town seeks to escape its rural, backwoods economy, and Saoirse falls in love with the sweetheart of a family friend. There is a Shakespeare play worth of tragedy in this abbreviated novel.

Laying out the events like this, The Queen of Dirt Island seems like domestic melodrama. In Donal Ryan’s hands it is sublime storytelling. These women capture the heart with their foul-mouthed hilarity, their vulnerability, their strength. The gentle pastoral setting will enchant, even as it becomes a landscape for physical and emotional violence. The juxtaposition of comedy and tragedy rings true over the course of these complicated but confined lives and is balanced by grace, compassion and hope.

This is my discovery of author Donal Ryan, who is celebrated in Ireland and making his international mark with this sixth, luminous novel. Highly recommended.

[Ron Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

The girl at the center of Donal Ryan’s exquisite new novel is born into animosity and grief. Her mother was ostracized for getting pregnant; her father was killed the day she was born. But from that cruel soil grows a life of unbridled joy and affection.

Such is the abiding miracle of “The Queen of Dirt Island.” Here, in Ryan’s seventh book, unfolds the story of a small Irish village “that nobody’d ever heard of, tucked between a hillside and a lake.” That baby who arrives under such inauspicious circumstances is named Saoirse, which means “Freedom” in Irish. Her distraught mother worries that “if she ever goes to America the yanks won’t have a clue how to pronounce it,” but she needn’t worry about that. County Tipperary will be Saoirse’s whole world. And it’s in such cramped geography that Ryan, one of Ireland’s best-selling writers, finds everything he needs to traverse the universe of the human heart.

Fans of Ryan’s work will recognize this area and some of these characters from his previous novel, “Strange Flowers,” which was voted Novel of the Year by the Irish Book Awards in 2020. But Ryan has set his new novel apart by subj...

To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...

[Diane Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm getting much better at choosing library books these days, because instead of reading a few pages and getting bored right away and returning them unread, I'm finishing and actually loving them. That's the way this one worked. GR friends rated this highly, so I overlooked the cover and the title and fell right in from page one. The stars are an Irish family of women: mother-in-law Mary, mother Eileen, daughter Saorise. They talk like sailors, say awful things to each other, fight like cats and dogs, but, and it's a big but, they love each other fiercely and woebetide anyone who stands in their way. It's a novel about strong women who stand together when it counts, soothe each others hurts, and do what needs to be done. There are men here who are compassionately written about, but are mostly weak and ineffectual when dealing with the Aylward women. They are the stars of a 40 year saga.

This is my first book by Donal Ryan, although I've heard him being raved about, and now I understand why. This is his latest novel, so I'll be looking for his earlier work. If you like strong women characters, this is for you. I'd be hard pressed to choose my favorite woman, but Nana (Mary) the elderly mother-in-law, would probably win.

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

" Lies are the devil's language, and greed is grist for his mill. Best to crawl back to the garden. To blow the dandelion fairies into the blue sky. To leave to the big people all the words so poisonous that they needed to be burnt in the stove."

Such a turn of phrase Ryan has under his command. Poignant glimpses of lives lived. Four generations of the Alyward women, women who can be brutal to each other but love each other dearly. Chapters or segments with one word titles highlighting the important events in a life. Birt, death, life's milestones in all their sadness a joy.

A remarkable author, one that can tell an amazing story in a minimal number of pages. Gorgeous Cover too, makes me want to go there

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly enjoy reading Irish authors. I don’t know what it is about their writing but their prose is just beautiful. This is the first book I have read by Donal Ryan.
This is the story of four generations of woman set in Nenagh,Tipperary starting in the 1980’s. It begins at the end and ends at a beginning.
Saoirse is born shortly after the death of her father. Eileen her mother and Eileen’s mother in law, Nana live together in a small house in Ireland.
They have conflicts with shouting and screaming at each other, but love underneath. We learn of each woman’s story in short chapters that are beautifully written.
Eileen is a young widow with no relationship with her own family. They have disowned her. Even when their is a death in her family they want nothing to do with her. She only has her mother in law Mary.
Life goes in in this small rural community with plenty of drama. Another member is born into the father less home. Saoirse gives birth to a beautiful baby girl named Pearl. The women all bound together with the trails and tribulations of a young infant in their home without a father.
This is a powerful novel filled with love, loyalty and heartbreak.
A wonderful book.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fierce loyalty, unconditional love, and battles royal are what you will find in the Aylward household--a home containing four generations of girls and women.

Ryan's lyrical prose surrounds the sometimes earthy dialogue. He writes in extremely short chapters, just two pages each. At times they seamlessly skip years, and at others they continue the immediate story. Ryan shows me the monumental and the ordinary occurrences of several decades of living. The heart of this novel is the relationships between the Aylward women.

"Saorise went to the kitchen to make tea. Through the archway she saw that Mother was beside Nana now, and Nana's arms were around her, hugging her tight into herself, like a mother would hug a crying child, a child who's fallen, or who's had a bad dream, who can't stop their tears from falling, as if to take from that child all their pain, and make it her own."

My family of women does not engage the way these women do, and the attachments are as deep and as strong. I can relate to so much in this novel.

While I have a clear picture of Nana (Mary), Mother (Eileen), and Saoirse (our narrator), Pearl, the youngest member of the family is not developed as a character. She feels like just a plot device to me. Despite this missing piece, I have fallen for these Aylward women and I will miss spending time with them.

This story of intimacy and connection jumped off the shelf into my hand at the perfect time.

Thank you to K, for gifting this one to me.

Publication 2022

[*TUDOR^QUEEN* · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those "quiet reads" of fiction I occasionally enjoy. It takes place in Ireland, recounting the lives of a grandmother, her daughter-in-law (widow of her son), and the main character (grandchild/daughter). As the book begins, this daughter is a newborn being driven home from the hospital by her parents. The father is beaming inside, feeling strong and blessed and pledging his life to take care of his wife and baby girl. However, minutes after dropping off his precious cargo he dies in a car crash. The story then follows the daughter Saoirse (means Freedom) as she grows up, her observations and revelations over the years, while surrounded by her Nana, Mom Eileen and her two uncles that run a nearby modest farm.

I enjoyed the story being told from Saoirse's perspective, the simplicity of their daily lives, and the strong, feisty nature that shone through each generation of women. I'm at a bit of a loss to explain why I wasn't "wowed" by this book. While the writing style was good it wasn't quite as straightforward and free-flowing as I usually like. It's just over 250 pages so it certainly didn't need any editing. I guess I will go back to my earlier stamp on this book as being a "quiet read"...and just that!

Thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Viking for providing an advance reader copy via NetGalley.

[Bonnie G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The tale of four generations of Irish women, anchored by the life of the third of those women, Saoirse. The book opens with a joyous event followed by a tragedy (this is in the first couple of pages) as sometimes happens in life, and then settles into simple snapshots of the lives of each of the people who felt the impact of the joy and the tragedy on the first pages. (The chapters are a few pages each, and they all fit together, but if you want pages of "she put on her sweater and walked out the door and looked to the right" sort of storytelling this is not for you.) Those joys and tragedies and people's experiences of feeling them are not analyzed, they just *are*. Donal Ryan is as comfortable relating the mundane events of every day as he is with quietly conveying earthshattering heartbreak and violence and injustice and unadorned simple joy. Every event is related in the same tone, in the most beautifully restrained prose. Through the good and bad and the everyday the one constant is the love and support of these women for one another. As they bicker and succeed and fail, and as they are failed over and over by the men around them, these four generations of Aylward women support one another completely, generously, quietly with grit and good humor, foul mouths, little care for what others think, and with blessedly few expectations.

There is an old-fashioned feel to this storytelling, old-fashioned in a good way, but also a very modern approach to story construction and writing. I saw in his GR blurb that Ryan is part of my beloved tribe of ex-lawyers who write, so extra points for that.

This is a 4.5 for me, I am rounding up because this read cured me of a little burst of anxiety I was struggling with as we hit the end of the academic year and there are a million details to attend to and then two days later I take off across the world for a rather lengthy vacation for which I have done almost no planning. ("Oh yeah, I need to get that visa!") It reminded me to stop worrying about what is supposed to happen and just experience things as they are.

ETA: This was always supposed to be a 5 star-- I say I am rounding up right in the review -- I don't know why I clicked 4.

[Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing was beautiful and the story of the extremely close, accepting and supportive relationship of four generations of women in an Irish family was often touching. However, I thought that the book lacked conflict. The first three generations seemed to have no ambition or curiosity about the world. It was a very insular and narrow view of women. And I kept thinking that it must be very inexpensive to live in Ireland, otherwise they should have had much more concern about making a living. In any event, I like this author and enjoyed the book. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

[Srivalli (Semi-Hiatus) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Publication Date: 18th August 2022

3.5 Stars

One Liner: Mixed feelings

The Aylward women of Nenagh, Tipperary, will always support each other. Their conversations might seem otherwise, but their house is a safe haven from the brutal outside world.

Mary Nana, Eileen, and Saoirse lead a happy life despite everything. Who cares for troubles when you can laugh them off after a dose of drama? The story starts with Saoirse’s birth and takes us through her life’s journey as a child, teen, and woman of the Aylward family.

Set in the rural estate of Tipperary in Ireland, the book comes in a disjointed stream of consciousness from the limited third-person POV of Saoirse.

My Observations:

I didn’t know what to expect, but this book sure was different. The writing style is raw, disjointed, and semi-stream of consciousness narrative. There are no quotes for dialogues. Everything is lumped into the same paragraph. I got used to the style soon enough. It suited the characters.

The character arcs revealed themselves as the story progressed. The main ladies had distinct personalities yet were similar in many ways.

Being literary fiction, the pacing was slow and determined to stay that way. The writing was evocative without being lyrical or heavy.

The heaviness came from the storyline and the characters. Still, it didn’t get overwhelming at any point.

The chapter titles were a treat. They gave clear hints about what would happen in just a word. I began guessing the plot would go based on the chapter titles (and, no, this is not a mystery book).

What didn’t work for me was the shift in focus in the second half and the lack of focus on the title. Sure, the title was used multiple times in the book, but the impact wasn’t there.

There was liberal use of the F-word. While I don’t mind it, I did skim through them when it got too much.

The book belonged to Saoirse mostly, and the title belonged to her mother, Eileen. It seemed as if the book shifted focus at one point, though it came back towards the end.

The story takes place from 1982 to the late 1990s or early 2000s. Yet, it has a strong historical feel throughout (even when mobile phones were used). Since I like historical fiction, it worked well for me.

The ending was rather intriguing and cool. I loved it. It’s not until then that I realized what the phrase, ‘their story begins at an end and ends at a beginning,’ in the blurb meant.

To summarize, The Queen of Dirt Island is the story of three strong women who decided to live their lives on their terms and love each other no matter what.

Thank you, NetGalley, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, and Doubleday, for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

#TheQueenofDirtIsland #NetGalley

*****

TW: Violence, Suicide, Hints of Sexual Assault, Infidelity

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Queen of Dirt Island is Donal Ryan’s exploration of four generations of the Irish Aylward women who come to live together due to the happenstance of life. Men in their families tend to die early or inconveniently, or be less dynamic than the women. We first meet an unnamed baby girl and her young mother who we will learn eventually are Saoirse and her mother Eileen. Soon added to this duo is Mary, Eileen’s mother in law, known primarily as Nana. Eileen and Mary are the bickering center of this loving family, who throw curses around as they hug and kiss each other. There will be a fourth generation to follow.

Ryan has written a gem here, with a variety of characters, large and small, that help to define the Aylward women as they challenge each of them in different ways. Ryan captures people and situations eloquently, using mentions of quickly seen facial expressions and body language along with dialogue (without any marking) to forward the action. It flows. It is written in a series of short chapters that also allows the story to easily shift focus while continuing to flow.

I have read other of Ryan’s books and continue to be impressed. I also continue to recommend all that he writes. He understands people and captures them and their lives on the page.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book for review.

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is now the fifth of Ryan's novels I've read and I have enjoyed them all - but think this represents something of a minor leap forward for the author (... though he hadn't much room for improvement).

We interrupt this review for a mini-rant: although Ryan has twice been longlisted for the Booker Prize, this was overlooked for this year's award, most probably because the judges seem constrained to never nominate more than ONE Irish novel - and Claire Keegan's slight but admirable novella Small Things Like These got the nod instead. But THIS book not only is far superior to that one, it is also better than any of the OTHER nominees - or the eventual barely readable winner. As was Young Mungo (also criminally neglected by the Booker).

We now return to our regularly scheduled review, already in progress ...

This companion piece to Ryan's last tome, Strange Flowers (but which can also be read as a stand-alone), returns to Tipperary and unfolds the tale of four generations of Aylward women. Although the titular character is Eileen, the book focuses primarily on Saoirse, her daughter, and details her life from the early '80's to well-nigh the present day.

One thing I absolutely loved is that the book is structured so that each of the 121 chapters is exactly two pages in length; one would think this might truncate or otherwise constrain some of the episodes - but I found that Ryan's artistry told just enough in each instance without it getting too overblown - he also has a sure knack for ending each chapter with a surprise, or an eloquent pensée, that sets one up for the next installment.

I now need to go back and reread Strange Flowers, as I want to see what I might have missed first go-round - and make the connections with this book.

My sincere thanks to Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Viking for the ARC of the American edition on my Kindle - but truth be told, I'd already purchased the UK edition and read that one, as I couldn't wait! :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0JzQ...
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...

[Lady Clementina ffinch-ffarowmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a review copy of this from Viking Press via Edelweiss for which my thanks.

A sensitive and beautiful story of four generations of women from an Irish family sharing a deep bond and fierce love which sees them through the worst of times and challenges life throws, in any or all of their paths.

Eileen Aylward is widowed soon after the birth of her daughter Saoirse and lives in the home she shared with husband. Estranged from her parents and brother (who disapproved of the man she fell pregnant by and later married, and have disowned her), her strongest support and best friend is her mother-in-law Mary (Nana) who as circumstances change comes to make her home with Eileen (she was half living there, in any case). The two are ostensibly constantly bickering, their words ever harsh but what lies beneath is a relationship like no other. Saoirse and later her daughter Pearl are the other two generations in this unusual household of which it is these women and their love, all in a sense deriving from the rock-solid bond that Nana and Eileen share that forms the soul. There are no doubt others in their lives, friendships with neighbours Kit Gladney and her daughter-in-law Moll, later joined by Moll’s son Josh and his girlfriend Honey with whom Saoirse in a sense forms the first meaningful friendship she has, Sally, whose father died in the same accident as Saoirse’s and feels tied to them even though she lives away, and Nana’s other two sons Paudie and Chris, well-meaning and in their ways willing to help, but neither very reliable (not even for the smallest of things).

Life throws an assortment of challenges their way from loss and estrangement to broken hearts, the shadows of the troubles (as Paudie becomes involved with the IRA) to even murderous attacks (from surprising and unsurprising quarters) and the search for love, but their relationship with each other sees them through all. For all the harsh words spoken, there is no judgment in this house, but constant love and support—they stand up for and behind each other, through thick and thin, good and bad.

Told in short chapters, in a sense, vignettes from their lives, yet chronologically connecting together as a story, we follow these women for over four decades through the twists and turns life takes them on, their journeys or eventual outcomes not quite as they’d envisioned perhaps, but for all of the downs (and there are many) not any the less well lived.

Oddly enough as I was reading, I found myself doing so pretty smoothly, not taking in even the lack of quote marks (I noticed for example in Sarah Winman’s Still Life), going with the flow and becoming quite absorbed in the story. I was actually rather surprised how this structure didn’t interfere with my reading experience, perhaps a result of Ryan’s writing.

The women are all well-defined, their characters, attitudes and experiences distinct and varied. Despite the liberally flowing expletives or gossip or even the many vagaries of life they are constantly amidst which might well be depressing, the reader instead feels a distinct sense of warmth in their midst, and of love—and the sense that their home is a space where one can be safe and one can be.

I thought of Still Life when considering the book’s structure but thinking back now, that is a book I’d compare it to otherwise as well, for the love, friendship and strength between an unconventional set of people (even more so than here) who are eventually there for each other, no matter what.

[Jodi · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful surprise to come across so many of the Strange Flowers characters while reading The Queen of Dirt Island! It was like meeting old friends, which made the book very comfortable, right from the start. It’s a story about family, as Strange Flowers was, but it’s about two village families—the Aylwards and the Gladneys—and the love they share, as friends and more. Relationships blossom and grow and, just occasionally, they falter. But always, always, it’s love that keeps drawing these families together—strong, enduring love.

I marvel at how Ryan does it; how he builds his stories, often starting with the tiniest of things—inconsequential things—that grow, bit by bit, into wondrous, magnificent stories! How does he keep writing these beautiful books that resonate with readers, and strike right to the core of our hearts? This author knows the very things that move us.

And so, as with Strange Flowers, The Queen of Dirt Island is another of his books about the abiding power of love. I’m starting to think it’s a theme with Donal Ryan novels. And I’m good with it.❤️

This novel is worth every bit of 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and much, much more.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Queen of Dirt Island was my first experience of reading Donal Ryan, and it was like a warm, fierce, loving bearhug that took my breath away. I can't wait to explore more of his work.

Saoirse is only days old when she loses her father, so growing up in a house of women is all she's ever known. There's Mother (Eileen), estranged from her own family and widowed far too young, Nana (Mary) the matriarch who initially lives on the family farm up behind the village, and eventually along comes little Pearl, the apple of everyone's eye once they become reconciled to her existence. These are the four generations of Aylward women who are the heart and soul of this story. Each is on her own path, but none of them are whole without the others. They love each other loudly, intensely - almost violently. Who wouldn't want a piece of that? I loved their loyalties, their sass and their (often) cold-eyed shrewdness. But if I had to pick one thing that I loved the most, it would be the relationship between Eileen and her mother-in-law, Mary.

The story covers 30+ years, following Saoirse from birth to a hard-fought successful adulthood. Although the narrative is linear, the storytelling is a little unconventional in style with short chapters offering glimpses into the lives of these four remarkable women by way of vignettes that may or may not always be connected to the one before or after. This gives Ryan the opportunity to paint the most glorious word-pictures with very little filler in sight. There are some shocks and tears along the way, but mainly this novel glows with warmth, humour and love. I've captured a number of quotes/passages that should be visible on this review's page.

Highly recommended.