THE QUEEN OF DIRT ISLAND

The daughter of a single mother grows up in a family of formidable women in rural Ireland.

This short novel from Ryan, whose previous books have twice been longlisted for the Booker Prize, charts the early life of Saoirse Aylward, a much-loved child of the fierce Eileen and a father who died in a car wreck days after her birth. Saoirse is essentially co-parented, instead, by her paternal grandmother, Mary, a brassy woman who also becomes Eileen’s closest friend. As Saoirse grows up, her family’s life becomes more complex, with her mother drawn into conflicts with her estranged family and her paternal uncles pursuing marriage and the IRA. But nothing changes Saoirse’s life as much as a surprise teenage pregnancy. After she becomes a mother, Saoirse’s world expands when she meets Josh, a young writer with whom she embarks on a romance once his girlfriend leaves town. Ryan, who tells his story in brief, impressionistic chapters, is a gifted prose stylist and has a particular talent for capturing the language and rhythm of dialogue. The outwardly contentious but deeply loving relationship between Eileen and Mary feels particularly true to life. His decision to break the book up into short parts, though, can make the characters and their story feel distant. Though Eileen and Mary are vivid, Saoirse herself is a frustratingly blank slate whose interests and passions never become clear. Saoirse’s life, and her mother’s, can also feel implausibly charmed when it isn’t pierced by grand tragedy. Though these tragic moments are shocking, they are undercut by Ryan’s impulse to have everyone get along in the end and to deliver his heroine a sentimentally happy ending that isn’t supported by the novel itself.

A gentle bildungsroman that could have used a little more bite.