Main character Saoirse is brought up by her mother with daily visits from her grandmother who supports her daughter-in-law widowed at the very beginnings of motherhood. It is set in the same location with some of the same characters in a more supporting role this time but moving on a generation as we meet four generations of a family from rural Tipperary. Here, in what is very much a companion piece to “Strange Flowers” (although it works fine as a stand-alone) I was with him right from the start. I felt the narrative style chosen with its very matter of fact fable or fairy story feel initially held me at bay and it wasn’t until about two-thirds of the way through that I realised the extent this canny author had immersed me into the book. “Strange Flowers” took a while for me to get into. By the winter 2015 edition of NB magazine I was putting it forward as my choice for “Best Book Of The Twenty-First Century So Far”. I absolutely loved his debut “ The Spinning Heart” (2012) a book voted “Irish Book Of The Decade”. Do not be surprised if he does it again with this which I think is even better. Donal Ryan’s last novel “ Strange Flowers” (2020) was voted Novel Of The Year at the Irish Book Awards.
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