BOOK OF THE WEEK: The Queen of Dirt Island by Donal Ryan

From the Booker longlisted author, and an Irish Times No.1 bestseller - Donal Ryan’s The Queen of Dirt Island is a searing, jubilant novel about four generations of women and the stories that bind them. On a council estate in County Tipperary, Ireland, the Aylward women stick with each other through thick and thin, and always with a wicked sense of humour. The head of the family, Nana, is a woman who has buried two sons. Her daughter-in-law, Eileen, is estranged from her own parents, having 'shamed' them and given birth to Saoirse. And then there's Saoirse herself, eavesdropping on lives she cannot comprehend. It is only when they must battle for the inheritance of Dirt Island - a narrow strip of land adjacent to Eileen's childhood home - that they truly understand the roots that bind their lives together. Listen now for an exclusive reading from Donal himself. 'Beautiful, compassionate... Donal Ryan at his inimitable best' - MAGGIE O'FARRELL The Queen of Dirt Island is published by Transworld and available now. We recommend buying a copy from your local indie bookshop or you can support the work we do and the podcast by visiting our shop on Bookshop.org. Podcast programmed by Matt Casbourne Produced and edited by Megan Bay Dorman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can listen to BOOK OF THE WEEK: The Queen of Dirt Island by Donal Ryan online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

BOOK OF THE WEEK: The Queen of Dirt Island by Donal Ryan is an episode from The Literary Salon by Damian Barr.

This episode is 11:40 long.

This episode was published on Jul 19, 2023.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from The Literary Salon when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.