Queen of Dirt Island
- Author: Donal Ryan
- Published: 2023
- Type: Fiction
- Pages: 252
- Finished Reading: June 9, 2025
- Personal Rating: ★★★★★ 5 Stars
- Goodreads Rating: 4.07 (11,749 ratings)
A beautiful, beautiful novel. This is the story of a family of three, then four women living in semi-rural Ireland. The mother, Eileen, is the Queen of Dirt Island, lives with her daughter, Saoirse; Mary, the mother of her Eileen’s dead husband. The story is told in third person from the point of view of Saoirse.
Each chapter is short – two or three pages – where we get a glimpse of events through Saoirse. As she grows up she hangs around slightly out of sight listening to the two older women talk about extended family, neighbors, and people and events in the area. When she is young we don’t understand much but get fuller narrative as she matures. The structure is like a series of narrative photographs from which a whole story evolves.
Donal Ryan captures the love and prejudices, and partial understandings that make up our lives. At one point in he young life, Saoirse realizes
She realized that she and her mother rarely spoke properly at all. That post of Mother’s speech was indirect, utterances flung around like fistfuls of confetti, vaguely aimed and scattered randomly (Chapter: Mysteries)
I am here all day for the relationship between Eileen and Mary; they love one another, but Eileen, who is a fiery person hides her love behind her fiery nature. Here is a passage that captures the relationship perfect. Mary (aka Nana) talks to Saorise about when she passes away.
We’re living in one another’s pockets now the bones of forty years. It’ll ba a big change for her. She could go downhill, you know without me to give her a gee up. Mother said that was bullshit. She couldn’t wait to get her house back., Fucking our bitch had the whole place taken over. (Chapter: Home)
This novel touches the heart, revealing emotions and feelings we, the readers, can relate to. Here Sarirse is being comforted by Nana during a problem in a relationship.
And Saoirse turned to her grandmother, who’d buried two of her three sons, and she saw in her face nothing but love, and concern for her, anther grandmother was squeezing her hand, saying, Take life easy, my darling. You only get one, and you have to do your best to be happy. (Chapter: Liberties)
Another Irishman, James Joyce, may have written the perfect novel (Ulysses) and the perfect set of short stories (The Dubliners) but this Irishman knows his way around the page. He shows us the center of family and relationships of an unspecial group of people.
Giving this novel five stars is not enough; but it’s all I’ve got.