One Traumatic Moment Reframes a Young Boy's Life
An exquisitely written coming-of-age tale. Donal Ryan’s Where Are The Kings follows 12-year-old Jack as he comes to terms with grief and wrestles with what it means to be a man. Heartbreaking yet also full of warmth and humour.
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Where are the Kings
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One Traumatic Moment Reframes a Young Boy's Life
An exquisitely written coming-of-age tale. Donal Ryan’s Where Are The Kings follows 12-year-old Jack as he comes to terms with grief and wrestles with what it means to be a man. Heartbreaking yet also full of warmth and humour.
- Book Synopsis
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From the winner of the Orwell Prize for Fiction and the Irish Book of the Year...
Jack is just twelve years old when he rushes down the hill after his mother's car on his bike, desperate to reach her before she reaches the lake.
What happens next cannot be undone. Jack's life changes just at the moment he is entering those dizzying years when he will transition from boy to man; when nothing makes sense at the best of times.
Yet Jack is not alone. Enveloped as he is by his extended family - his ferociously loving Nana; Grandad, given to sudden bursts of rage; his earthy uncles Haulie and Theo who want to show him what it means to be a man, and the irascible JJ who resents him deeply. Then there is beautiful aunt Rose, whose mere presence ignites every atom in his changing body.
But how can a boy with so many questions, in a family with so many secrets, understand the person he is becoming? Without his mother to ground him on the earth, will he spin off into the stars?
Ideal for readers who:
- Enjoy Irish literary fiction and authors like Claire Keegan, Colm Toibin, Sebastian Barry and Paul Murray.
- Appreciate emotional stories that focus on family.
- Want an intelligent read that is moving, absorbing, and beautifully written.
- Liked previous Donal Ryan novels such as The Spinning Heart and The Queen of Dirt Island.
- About The Author
- Donal Ryan, from Nenagh, County Tipperary, has published seven number one bestselling novels and a short story collection. He has won several awards for his fiction, including the European Union Prize for Literature, the Guardian First Book Award and six Irish Book Awards, and has been shortlisted for several more, including the Costa Book Award and the Dublin International Literary Award. He was nominated for the Booker Prize in 2013 for his debut novel, The Spinning Heart, and again in 2018, for his fourth novel, From A Low and Quiet Sea. The Spinning Heart was voted Irish Book of the Decade in 2016. In 2021 Donal became the first Irish writer to be awarded the Jean Monnet Prize for European Literature. His most recent novel, Heart Be at Peace, won both Novel of the Year and Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards, and was shortlisted for Novel of the Year at the Nero Book Awards. His work has been adapted for stage and screen and translated into over twenty languages. Donal has lectured in Creative Writing at the University of Limerick since 2014 and lives in Castletroy with his wife Anne Marie and their two children.
- Product Details
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- ISBN
- 9780857529589
- Format
- Hardback
- Publisher
- Doubleday, (13 August 2026)
- Number of Pages
- 209
- Weight
- 304 grams
- Language
- English
- Dimensions
- 224 x 144 x 22 mm
- Categories: