**"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 about the staying power of love
and pride and history and family." -Colum McCann, author
of Apeirogon and Let The Great World Spin
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.
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.
