Strange Flowers

With each new novel Donal Ryan's ink seems to sink deeper into the page. In Strange Flowers he gathers together the fragments of broken lives and makes us something new and beautiful from them

Rónán Hession, author of Leonard and Hungry Paul

A book so exquisite in its language it pushes me to want to write better ... you will love the quiet world of Paddy & Kit Gladney and all it is their daughter Moll brings to their door. Beautiful

Anne Griffin, author of When All Is Said

Endlessly surprising and incredibly moving

David Nicholls

A big-hearted, beautiful work of art, full of truth and intensity

Kit de Waal

This is a novel to savour, for its mastery of language, its power of storytelling and its sure hand as it covers the sweep of time. Irish fiction was in a great place already, but Donal Ryan has gone and raised the bar again. All the beauty and sorrow of life can be found in these pages

Kathleen MacMahon

I think you have to truly love people to write like this

Rachel Joyce

A beautiful, almost unbearably moving novel. Donal Ryan's compassion shines through every word he writes

Louise O’Neill

Tender and beautifully written ... We read this outstanding book in one sitting and will definitely return to it again

Independent

A triumph of quiet but devastating power, by some distance the best novel I've read so far this year

Joseph O'Connor

What a beautiful book, I loved it

Sinéad Morrissey

Beautifully observed Tipperary setting and tenderly created characters telling a story of loss and redemption ... Love permeates Ryan's work

Irish Times

A master with the written world and who has an insight into the Irish psyche which is not only stunning, but is hard to touch with a flame

Ryan Tubridy, RTE Radio 1

The slim novel belies its size by packing in a whole world of exploration of social class, gender, sexuality, race, parenthood, and religion. For all its scope, nothing is shoehorned in. It's all naturally and gently explored

Journal.ie

One of the greatest Irish novels of this century so far

Sunday Independent

The lyricism of the prose can be pitch perfect, placing Ryan among the great writers of rural Ireland such as John McGahern and Mary Lavin

Sunday Times

A brilliant and ambitious addition to a body of work from an author who is inevitably, and seemingly effortlessly, writing his way into the pantheon of great Irish novelists

Sunday Business Post

Utterly captivating

Irish Examiner

Ryan reaffirms his place amongst Ireland's greatest wordsmiths ... This is a book which more than justifies the hype that accompanies it

RTE.ie

His moving story of love and loss deserves to win a host of awards. It's an outstanding read

Sunday Express

A novel carried by deep feeling and great empathy

Daily Mail

It is the sweetest, gentlest story of love ... each character so tenderly evoked

Saga Magazine

Classic Ryan; poignant and atmospheric storytelling ... quiet but intermittently explosive

Observer

The writing is so exquisite, the dialogue so authentic, the sympathy so deep

Big Issue

Here is love as a weapon and a balm. Love as faith, fate and redemption ... a gorgeously wrought book - compassionate without dissolving into nostalgia

Guardian

I knew Donal Ryan's latest would be good and I was right - it's a risky act of imagination that works, and the sentences are as beautiful as ever

Sarah Moss, The Times

A triumph ... Ryan slowly and beautifully reveals the way that even broken people can open the door fully to the truth of themselves

Independent, Best Books of 2020

Ryan's love of people pours from every page

Sunday Independent

One of the standout books for me this year. He's a master of the craft and has written a family story with humanity and warmth, turning sentence after sentence to die for

Kit de Waal, New Statesman, Books of the Year

Inventive

TLS

A lovingly crafted story that draws you in, gets under the skin and will resonate long after

i

The lyricism of Ryan's prose, laced with compassion, is astonishing

Best Irish Novels of the Year, Irish Independent

Ryan's beautifully written story reads like coming home and is a breath of fresh air

Best Novels of 2020, Image Magazine