Where Are the Kings

A new Donal Ryan novel is always something to anticipate keenly and there is nothing to disappoint in the marvellous coming-of-age tale Where Are the Kings… A marvellous portrait of a bewildered , sad boy trying to understand a bizarre family with so many secrets while also making sense of the person he is becoming at the very moment of his dawning sexuality… A novel that has so much to say about how emotions fester , sibling jealousy, the weightlessness and formlessness of guilt , and the sudden healing power of "a deluge of love". * Independent *
A novel bursting at the seams with love, humour and compassion. * Saga *
In his story of a family wracked by loss, the prizewinning Irish author’s incisive prose and flashes of humour keep mawkish sentiment in check… this is a book marked by a frank and unusually high compassion for the uniquely trying experience of early adolescence…. It’s this kind of gentle but deep empathy that gives Where Are the Kings its radiance. * Financial Times *
How is this tragic tale so funny? . . . Where Are the Kings has its tragedies, but they are wrapped in hope and human decency . . . this is a small book about small lives . . . written with tenderness and attention * Sunday Times *
Here is a book that will break your heart and stitch it back together again . . . Wisdom and tenderness lie at its core, a Ryan trademark, but this novel is extremely funny on the subject of teenage boys, and pitch perfect in its depiction of rural Irish life. * Irish Independent *
A timeless tale of family drama in rural Ireland . . . A gentle novel of ungentle things * Guardian *
Ryan elevates a story about adolescent grief and sexual awakening with prose of vivid, gleaming buoyancy. Every sentence is a treat. * Daily Mail *
All the characters are richly and idiosyncratically drawn . . . the writing […] recalls James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man . . . Ryan offersa vivid and engaging account of Jack's life in the bustling rural household * Spectator *
As is always the case in Ryan's novels, solidarity is the only true cement... From tragedy springs a moral: ‘Every single particle in the universe exerts a force on every single other particle. Nothing exists in isolation.' Where Are the Kings is a marvellous study of the mind in crisis. * Literary Review *
Donal Ryan's wrenching, gorgeous story of an orphaned boy connects the tectonic emotions of adolescence to the stormy tempers of the natural world * Irish Times *