Donal Ryan is one of those authors whose name makes my heart sing when I see it in the publishing schedules. The Queen of Dirt Island popped up quite some time before it was due to be published and I snapped it up on NetGalley. Opening with a beginning and an end, it follows four generations of women in one unconventional household, all devoted to each other in their own particular ways.
Wasn’t it the queerest set-up you ever heard of? A widow and her dead husband’s mother, and they together now ten times longer than the couple had been, and they solid wrapped in one another. They understood each other, you see.
Saoirse is born nearly five months after her parents’ marriage resulted in an estrangement from Eileen’s disapproving parents. Tragically left to bring up her daughter alone, Eileen becomes so close to her mother-in-law that Nana moves in with Eileen and Saoirse when one son marries and the other lands in prison. It hardly makes any difference as she’s long since been eating her supper in the bungalow, a lousy cook herself. Saoirse loves the background banter between the two women, growing up straining her ears to catch the whispered gossip Nana can’t resist relaying or exaggerating. She’s a happy girl not especially popular until one of the cool crowd picks her out with tragic and unexpected results. When Josh Underwood appears along with his girlfriend Honey, a friendship is struck that offers Saoirse an intimacy she’s never known before together with a surprising opportunity. Eileen and Nana continue their litany of affectionate insult until Nana slips into an inevitable decline. By the end of the novel, forty years have passed and the fourth generation of Aylward women is making its way in the world.
The dead have a hold on us all, Nana said. And the thing about them is they’ll never change their minds.
Ryan’s novel gently unfolds his story in short, snapshot chapters, the occasional punchy shock moving it in a different direction to the one readers might have expected. The Aylward women are all affectionately and astutely portrayed, from Saoirse’s eavesdropping early years to Nana’s eager, salacious gossip. Ryan’s writing is as mellifluously elegant as ever, his story expertly spun with a pleasing thread of humour running through it. The Queen of Dirt Island shares the same setting as Strange Flowers characters from which become bound closely into the Aylwards’ story putting me in mind of Kent Haruf. The writing is very different but both Haruf and Ryan share that ability to paint the universal on a small canvas, evoking an intimacy which draws us into their characters’ worlds. I loved it and am hoping to meet the Aylward women again some time, preferably sooner rather than later.
Doubleday: London 9780857525215 256 pages Hardback
Obviously on my radar! Great review as ever Susan x
Thank you, Mairéad. I’d be amazed if you didn’t love this one x
My comment appears to have vanished. I like the sound of these characters very much. I only came across Ryan on your blog and do plan to try him out whenever I can manage
That happened to me today on another blog. I thought I might have duplicated it as I typed it in again. No idea why!
I hope you enjoy Ryan when you get to him. He’s a fine writer.
Sounds good, Susan!
It’s excellent!
Ryan is a must-read for me, and Kent Haruf such a favourite. I’m really looking forward to this! Lovely review Susan.
Thank you! Both wonderful writers aren’t they.
Good choice, I’ll be buying this
Pleased to hear it, Karen
I keep seeing great reviews of this author’s work, who I must try one day. I love the cover art of this, and four generations of women in one unconventional household, sounds right up my street.
The Aylward women are brilliantly drawn. I have high hopes of meeting them again thanks to a helpful tweet earlier in the week.
Hi Susan, I’ve just been reading a review of TQoDI and thought ‘I bet Susan has already written about this’, knowing how much of a Ryan fan you are and here we have it!! Great to see that you enjoyed this one, which means I will too, I’m sure. Hope you are keeping well xxx
Hi Liz, He’s a brilliant writer, isn’t he. I’m fine, thanks. Hope you are, too! xx
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