The Queen of Dirt Island

KEVIN CANFIELD, THE STAR TRIBUNE

"There's a lot of anguish in The Queen of Dirt Island, but it coexists with pluck, wisdom and humor, qualities that imbue the novel with buoyant beauty. Ryan's latest is another rich and satisfying tale ... Her life story is eventful and efficiently told. Each of the novel's roughly 100 chapters is two pages long, a user-friendly structure that beckons to those who claim they're too busy to read."

JOANNA CANNON, THE GUARDIAN (UK)

"A book of opposing forces. It begins with an ending...yet concludes with a hope for the people he left behind ... Wonderful humour punctuates Ryan's novel, and thankfully so, because on the journey towards Saoirse's adulthood and in the war for Dirt Island we are drawn into dark territory of grief, infertility, mental illness, suicide and rape ... Yet as ever, Ryan's writing is so musical, so easily heard, that your eyes will dance through its pages ... Within each short chapter, filled with compassion and cruelty, lie more opposites ... As you reach the final pages of this story, as one generation ends and a new generation finds its place in the world, and its own puzzles to solve, you realise that behind the scenes, Ryan has drawn the perfect circle."