The Spinning Heart

Set in a rural Irish town whose inhabitants are in various states of mourning after the demise of the Celtic Tiger, Ryan's debut devotes a chapter to each of its 21 characters. Given that a narrator hovers into view only briefly before being usurped by another, the structure never falters. The voices of redundant workers mix with those affected by a withered economic landscape. The story of a woman whose retired father becomes de facto caretaker on the crumbling estate in which she lives is particularly heartbreaking. The novel seethes with age-old hurt and disillusionment.