In Donal Ryan’s 2012 debut, The Spinning Heart, set in the aftermath of the financial crash, 21 characters living in and around a village in County Tipperary open up about their private lives as the Celtic tiger era turns to dust around them.
The first voice we hear belongs to Bobby Mahon, a well-liked builder whose team has been shafted by a local property developer. He fantasises about killing his father. Subsequent characters confess infidelities, plot kidnappings and rake over decades-old grievances that are as fresh as the day they were hatched. Together, the overlapping stories yield a sharp-eyed portrait of rural Ireland in a time of upheaval that’s been widely praised – The Spinning Heart won several prizes, including the Guardian first book award.
