Where Are the Kings

Beautiful, hilarious and completely gripping… I fell in love with the whole family, the sheer goodness of them, the way Donal Ryan gets inside Jack’s heart and head and explores the gap between them, what he knows and feels… a story filled with love that shines a light on all the hidden places. My life is better because of it. * Rachel Joyce, author of The Homemade God *
Where are the Kings is a brilliant, quietly devastating exploration of the fledgling heart. Tender, funny, mysterious and hopeful, it’s a flawless gem about the imperfect yet profound ways in which families love, and what that love costs. * M L Stedman, Sunday Times bestselling author of A Far-flung Life and The Light Between Oceans *
No one gets inside the heart like Donal Ryan. A book about belonging and coming home, about letting go and finding family. I loved it from the first word to the last. * KIt de Waal *
I have been a fan of Donal's writing for the longest time and the wonderful THE QUEEN OF DIRT ISLAND was one of the first novels I reviewed for The Guardian. This novel though... oh my heart. To explore grief through the eyes of a child, and to do it so exquisitely and so elegantly, is just mind-blowing. The thing I LOVE about Donal Ryan's writing is that he uncovers the poetry that hides within ordinary life. He also conjures up characters so solid, so complete and authentic, it immediately feels as though you have known them for your entire life. * Joanna Cannon, author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep *
The arrival of a new Donal Ryan novel always feels like Christmas morning and Where are the Kings does not disappoint. It's a powerful meditation on boyhood, family and trauma, expertly couched in Ryan's devastating prose. Warm, irreverent and desperately humane this is a novel which manages to be timeless, current and prescient. * Jan Carson, author of Few & Far Between *
You know when a book is so arresting, so captivating, that you have to actively seek a long time just to think about it – to luxuriate in the characters in all their charm and humour and sadness and confusion, a book that makes you look at the world differently, while at the same time cranking open your heart and letting the whole world pour in…We are the Kings. This is that book. * Annie Mac *
Cements his place among the best Irish authors… Ryan has a talent for creating characters that readers care deeply about… Told with warmth and heart, this slim but emotionally deep novel is touching and one you can’t help but be moved by. * Good Housekeeping *
A new Donal Ryan novel is always something to anticipate keenly and there is nothing to disappoint in the marvellous coming-of-age tale Where Are the Kings… A marvellous portrait of a bewildered , sad boy trying to understand a bizarre family with so many secrets while also making sense of the person he is becoming at the very moment of his dawning sexuality… A novel that has so much to say about how emotions fester , sibling jealousy, the weightlessness and formlessness of guilt , and the sudden healing power of "a deluge of love". * Independent *
As is always the case in Ryan's novels, solidarity is the only true cement... From tragedy springs a moral: ‘Every single particle in the universe exerts a force on every single other particle. Nothing exists in isolation.' Where Are the Kings is a marvellous study of the mind in crisis. * Literary Review *
Ryan has an exceptional ability to capture the complexities of ordinary lives, and this beautifully crafted novel is filled with compassion, humour and humanity. * Mature Times *