A breathtaking and redemptive novel from the award-winning and Man Booker nominated author Donal Ryan Melody Shee is alone and in trouble. At 33 years-old, she finds herself pregnant with the child of a 17 year-old Traveller boy, Martin Toppy, and not by her husband Pat. Melody was teaching Martin to read, but now he’s gone, and Pat leaves too, full of rage. She’s trying to stay in the moment, but the future is looming, while the past won’t let her go. It’s a good thing that she meets Mary Crothery when she does. Mary is a bold young Traveller woman, and she knows more about Melody than she lets on. She might just save Melody’s life. Following the nine months of her pregnancy, All We Shall Know unfolds with emotional immediacy in Melody’s fierce, funny, and unforgettable voice, as she contends with her choices, past and present.

All We Shall Know: A Novel

Literature & Fiction

Ryan, Donal

Literary

Penguin??Books

SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA BOOK AWARD LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE A moving novel of three men, each searching for something they have lost, from the award-winning and Man Booker nominated author Donal Ryan. For Farouk, family is all. He has protected his wife and daughter as best he can from the war and hatred that has torn Syria apart. If they stay, they will lose their freedom, will become lesser persons. If they flee, they will lose all they have known of home, for some intangible dream of refuge in some faraway land across the merciless sea. Lampy is distracted; he has too much going on in his small town life in Ireland. He has the city girl for a bit of fun, but she's not Chloe, and Chloe took his heart away when she left him. There's the secret his mother will never tell him. His granddad's little sniping jokes are getting on his wick. And on top of all that, he has a bus to drive; those old folks from the home can't wait all day. The game was always the lifeblood coursing through John's veins: manipulating people for his enjoyment, or his enrichment, or his spite. But it was never enough. The ghost of his beloved brother, and the bitter disappointment of his father, have shadowed him all his life. But now that lifeblood is slowing down, and he's not sure if God will listen to his pleas for forgiveness. Three men, searching for some version of home, their lives moving inexorably towards a reckoning that will draw them all together.

From a Low and Quiet Sea: A Novel

AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARD NOVEL OF THE YEAR "Mr. Ryan writes conspicuously beautiful prose... The fleeting happiness and abiding melancholy of the asymmetry, heightened by the intimately rendered surroundings, brings out Mr. Ryan's most sensuous and emotive writing." -The Wall Street Journal From the Booker nominated author of From a Low and Quiet Sea, Donal Ryan's new novel follows the Gladney family across three generations seeking the true meaning of what it is to find home and love. In 1973, twenty-year-old Moll Gladney takes a morning bus from her rural home in Ireland and disappears. Bewildered and distraught, Paddy and Kit must confront an unbearable prospect: that they will never see their daughter again. Five years later, Moll returns from London. What - and who - she brings with her will change the course of her family's life forever. Beautiful and devastating, this exploration of loss, alienation and the redemptive power of love reaffirms Donal Ryan as one of the most talented and empathetic writers at work today.

Strange Flowers: A Novel

The Thing About December

From the twice Man Booker longlisted author of From a Low and Quiet Sea 'A force of nature ... a life-enhancing talent' Sebastian Barry While the Celtic Tiger rages, and greed becomes the norm, Johnsey Cunliffe desperately tries to hold on to the familiar, even as he loses those who all his life have protected him from a harsh world. Village bullies and scheming land-grabbers stand in his way, no matter where he turns. Set over the course of one year of Johnsey’s life, The Thing About December breathes with his grief, bewilderment, humour and agonizing self-doubt. This is a heart-twisting tale of a lonely man struggling to make sense of a world moving faster than he is. Donal Ryan’s award-winning debut, The Spinning Heart, garnered unprecedented acclaim, and The Thing About December confirms his status as one of the best writers of his generation. 'His paragraphs are unnoticeably beautiful, his heart always on show, and he writes with a social accuracy that is devastating' Anne Enright 'Compelling and heartbreaking . . beautiful, yet simple and utterly convincing' Sunday Times

Humor & Entertainment

Humor

Black Swan.

The Queen of Dirt Island: A Novel

“From its opening pages, this book exerts a quiet, propulsive hold over its reader. The three generations of Aylward women will break your heart and then put it back together again.” –Maggie O'Farrell\n"This is a generous mosaic of a novel about the staying power of love and pride and history and family." –Colum McCann, author of Apeirogon and Let The Great World Spin\nFrom the multi-award-winning and internationally bestselling author Donal Ryan, a searing, jubilant story about four generations of women and fierce love\nThe Aylward women of Nenagh, Tipperary, are mad about each other, but you wouldn’t always think it. You’d have to know them to know that—in spite of what the neighbors might say about raised voices and dramatic scenes—their house is a place of peace, filled with love, a refuge from the sadness and cruelty of the world.\nTheir story begins at an end and ends at a beginning. It involves wives and widows, gunrunners and gougers, sinners and saints. It’s a story of terrible betrayals and fierce loyalties, of isolation and togetherness, of transgression, forgiveness, desire, and love. Of all the things family can be and all the things it sometimes isn’t. The Queen of Dirt Island is an uplifting celebration of fierce, loyal love and the powerful stories that bind generations together.

United States

VIKING

"From its opening pages, this book exerts a quiet, propulsive hold over its reader. The three generations of Aylward women will break your heart and then put it back together again." -Maggie O'Farrell "This is a generous mosaic of a novel&nbsp;about&nbsp;the staying power of love and pride and history and family." -Colum McCann, author of Apeirogon and Let The Great World Spin &nbsp; From the multi-award-winning and internationally bestselling author Donal Ryan, a searing, jubilant story about four generations of women and fierce love The Aylward women of Nenagh, Tipperary, are mad about each other, but you wouldn't always think it. You'd have to know them to know that--in spite of what the neighbors might say about raised voices and dramatic scenes--their house is a place of peace, filled with love, a refuge from the sadness and cruelty of the world. &nbsp; Their story begins at an end and ends at a beginning. It involves wives and widows, gunrunners and gougers, sinners and saints. It's a story of terrible betrayals and fierce loyalties, of isolation and togetherness, of transgression, forgiveness, desire, and love. Of all the things family can be and all the things it sometimes isn't. The Queen of Dirt Island is an uplifting celebration of fierce, loyal love and the powerful stories that bind generations together.

British & Irish

Strange Flowers: The Number One Bestseller

WINNER of the An Post Irish Novel of the Year 2020\n'Endlessly surprising and incredibly moving' David Nicholls\n'A triumph ... the best novel I've read so far this year' Joseph O'Connor\n________________\nIn 1973, twenty-year-old Moll Gladney takes a morning bus from her rural home and disappears.\nBewildered and distraught, Paddy and Kit must confront an unbearable prospect: that they will never see their daughter again.\nFive years later, Moll returns. What - and who - she brings with her will change the course of her family's life forever.\nBeautiful and devastating, this exploration of loss, alienation and the redemptive power of love reaffirms Donal Ryan as one of the most talented and empathetic writers at work today.\n________________\n'Here is love as a weapon and a balm ... A gorgeously wrought book' Guardian\n'Outstanding ... Tender and beautifully written' Independent\n'All the beauty and sorrow of life can be found in these pages' Kathleen MacMahon\n'Exquisite ... Beautiful' Anne Griffin, author of When All Is Said\n'Ryan gathers together the fragments of broken lives and makes us something new and beautiful from them' Rónán Hession, author of Leonard and Hungry Paul

Contemporary

DOUBLEDAY

From A Low And Quiet Sea

From a Low and Quiet Sea

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 Heart speaks 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.

The Spinning Heart

Charnwood

'No one has measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold.' Zelda Fitzgerald
Love is not a singular concept. 
In this collection, seven award-winning authors explore seven concepts of love: from Philautia, self-love, to Agape, love for humanity; and from Storge, a natural affection for family, to Mania, a frenzied, obsessive love. 
Seven authors; seven short stories; seven flashes of love.

How Much the Heart Can Hold: Seven Stories on Love

SHUKLA, NIKESH

Evaristo, Bernardine

Buchanan, Rowan Hisayo

McCleen, Grace

Bray, Carys

Wilson, D.W.

Sceptre

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Ryan, Donal. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Ryan, Donal

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Ryan, Donal. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

All We Shall Know: A Novel

From a Low and Quiet Sea: A Novel

Strange Flowers: A Novel

The Thing About December

The Queen of Dirt Island: A Novel

The Queen of Dirt Island: A Novel

Strange Flowers: The Number One Bestseller

From a Low and Quiet Sea

The Spinning Heart

How Much the Heart Can Hold: Seven Stories on Love