The Spinning Heart

Donal Ryan

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The Spinning Heart won the Guardian First Book Award 2013, was shortlisted for the Dublin IMPAC Literary Award 2014, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2013, and won Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards 2012. In the aftermath of Ireland's financial collapse, dangerous tensions surface in an Irish town. As violence flares, the characters face a battle between public persona and inner desires. Through a chorus of unique voices, each struggling to tell their own kind of truth, a single authentic tale unfolds. The Spinning Heart speaks for contemporary Ireland like no other novel. Wry, vulnerable, all-too human, it captures the language and spirit of rural Ireland and with uncanny perception articulates the words and thoughts of a generation. Technically daring and evocative of Patrick McCabe and J.M. Synge, this novel of small-town life is witty, dark and sweetly poignant.