The Queen of Dirt Island

A number one bestseller from the prizewinning author; a soaring novel about four generations of strong women and fierce love.

From the award-winning, Booker longlisted author of the number one bestseller, STRANGE FLOWERS, a searing, jubilant novel about four generations of women and the love and stories that bind them.

‘One of the finest novelists writing today… a haunting, exquisite masterpiece.’ RACHEL JOYCE

‘A generous mosaic of a novel about the staying power of love and pride and history and family’ COLUM McCANN

‘Beautiful, compassionate … Donal Ryan at his inimitable best.’ MAGGIE O’FARRELL

The Aylward women are mad about each other, but you wouldn’t always think it. You’d have to know them to know – in spite of what the neighbours might say about raised voices and dramatic scenes – that their house is a place of peace, filled with love, a refuge from the sadness and cruelty of the world.

Their story begins at an end and ends at a beginning. It’s a story of terrible betrayals and fierce loyalties, of isolation and togetherness, of transgression, forgiveness, desire, and love. About all the things family can be and all the things it sometimes isn’t. More than anything, it is an uplifting celebration of fierce, loyal love and the powerful stories that last generations.
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‘Beautifully poised, sad, poetic and human….I loved every single line.’ IAN RANKIN

‘His paragraphs are unnoticeably beautiful, his heart always on show’ ANNE ENRIGHT

‘Endlessly surprising and incredibly moving’ DAVID NICHOLLS

‘A life-enhancing talent’ SEBASTIAN BARRY

‘I would struggle to think of any other Irish author working today who writes with as much compassion as Donal Ryan’ LOUISE O’NEILL