THE PLOT: ‘The Queen of Dirt Island’ by Donal Ryan is a literary novel about four generations of women in one family. In County Tipperary, Ireland, the Aylward women live together under one roof. After becoming pregnant Eileen’s family disowned her so she lived with her boyfriend. But when her boyfriend dies, she’s left to raise her child alone. Her boyfriend’s family rallies around them with Nana, his mother and the fierce matriarch of the family, leading the charge. Several years later, Eileen’s parents die and she’s left a small strip of land called Dirt Island in their will, so she must battle for her inheritance.

SUMMARY: At less than 250-pages, this is a beautiful, short novel that will have you poring over every single word. This book is all about the well-crafted sentences and gorgeous line writing. In an almost phonetic Irish dialect, you’ll forget the lack of speechmarks as you pick up the rhythm of the narration and fall headlong into the world. It’s a quiet book focussed on character rather than plot. Yet within each two-page chapter, you feel that the author has managed to create a realistic portrait of life in this small, rural Irish town.

GOOD BITS:  You can tell this author has agonised over every word in this book. The line writing is incredible. The way that he creates such rich characters and detailed scenes in a few words blows my mind. This is definitely a writer’s book and I encourage anyone writing a novel to read it to help develop their craft. The sparse, precise language is so skillful, and the characters are so endearing because of it. This novel deserves five-stars for technique alone.

NOT SO GOOD BITS: I wasn’t sure about the ‘story within a story’ aspect of this novel. It’s hard to explain without spoilers, but towards the end there are metatextual references that make you, the reader, aware that the book is referenced within the text. Personally, this device took me out of the narrative as I started to pick apart the fictional world. I think it’s a matter of taste, but I like a novel to just be a novel.

OVERALL: I’d recommend this book to fans of Maggie O’Farrell and Sarah Winman. If you love beautiful writing and quiet, character-driven novels, this will not disappoint you.

Thank you to DoubleDay for my #gifted copy at the #DiscoverDoubleday event almost a year ago! You can purchase this book and support @aminasbookshelf on my bookshop.org page