The Spinning Heart A Novel [Paperback]

In the aftermath of Ireland's financial collapse, dangerous tensions surface in an Irish town. As violence flares, the characters face a battle between public persona and inner desires. Through a chorus of unique voices, each struggling to tell their own kind of truth, a single authentic tale unfolds.

The Spinning Heartspeaks for contemporary Ireland like no other novel. Wry, vulnerable, all-too human, it captures the language and spirit of rural Ireland and with uncanny perception articulates the words and thoughts of a generation. Technically daring and evocative of Patrick McCabe and J.M. Synge, this novel of small-town life is witty, dark and sweetly poignant.

Donal Ryan's brilliantly realized debut announces a stunning new voice in fiction.

Winner: IRISH BOOK OF THE DECADE
(chosen through a Facebook poll conducted by the 2016 Dublin Book Festival)

Winner - The Guardian First Book Award

Winner of two Irish Book Awards - Newcomer of The Year and Book of The Year

A Library Journal Best Book of the Year for 2014

Finalist - The IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

ABOSTON GLOBEBESTSELLER

Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize

Longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize


At the book’s figurative heart is the construction foreman Bobby Mahon, a young husband and father whose moral decency anchors the story. Both his goodness and his brogue lend the novel an old-fashioned, storybook quality ('He drank out the farm to spite his father') that overlaps convincingly with mentions of Facebook, 'prefab' doors and dubious investments in Dubai to create an affecting portrayal of contemporary rural Ireland. With . . . its rotation of voices — sharing regrets and desires along with town gossip — reminiscent of William Faulkner’sAs I Lay Dyingand Edgar Lee Masters’sSpoon River Anthology. . . Ryan writes wilc›