Description

WINNER of the An Post Irish Novel of the Year 2020

‘Endlessly surprising and incredibly moving’ David Nicholls

‘A triumph … the best novel I’ve read so far this year’ Joseph O’Connor

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In 1973, twenty-year-old Moll Gladney takes a morning bus from her rural home and disappears.

Bewildered and distraught, Paddy and Kit must confront an unbearable prospect: that they will never see their daughter again.

Five years later, Moll returns. What – and who – she brings with her will change the course of her family’s life forever.

Beautiful and devastating, this exploration of loss, alienation and the redemptive power of love reaffirms Donal Ryan as one of the most talented and empathetic writers at work today.

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‘Here is love as a weapon and a balm … A gorgeously wrought book’ Guardian

‘Outstanding … Tender and beautifully written’ Independent

‘All the beauty and sorrow of life can be found in these pages’ Kathleen MacMahon

‘Exquisite … Beautiful’ Anne Griffin, author of When All Is Said

‘Ryan gathers together the fragments of broken lives and makes us something new and beautiful from them’ Ronan Hession, author of Leonard and Hungry Paul

Publisher Review

This is a novel to savour, for its mastery of language, its power of storytelling and its sure hand as it covers the sweep of time. Irish fiction was in a great place already, but Donal Ryan has gone and raised the bar again. All the beauty and sorrow of life can be found in these pages -- Kathleen MacMahon A beautiful, almost unbearably moving novel. Donal Ryan's compassion shines through every word he writes * Louise O'Neill * A book so exquisite in its language it pushes me to want to write better ... you will love the quiet world of Paddy & Kit Gladney and all it is their daughter Moll brings to their door. Beautiful * Anne Griffin, author of When All Is Said * With each new novel Donal Ryan's ink seems to sink deeper into the page. In Strange Flowers he gathers together the fragments of broken lives and makes us something new and beautiful from them * Ronan Hession, author of Leonard and Hungry Paul * A big-hearted, beautiful work of art, full of truth and intensity * Kit de Waal * Tender and beautifully written ... We read this outstanding book in one sitting and will definitely return to it again * Independent * I think you have to truly love people to write like this * Rachel Joyce * A triumph of quiet but devastating power, by some distance the best novel I've read so far this year -- Joseph O'Connor Endlessly surprising and incredibly moving * David Nicholls *