This book is so beautiful. The writing is so wonderful.
This book was heart warming and made my heart sing.
Another fantastic book by this author.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

To my shame I had never heard of Donal Ryan before I’d read this book, he’s style of writing is simply beautiful. Such a beautiful story,

Having loved all of Donal Ryan's books, I had the feeling I was going to love this too. I just didn't know how much.

Strange Flowers is an exquisite novel that captivates the reader from the very first page. Ryan is a master at writing authentic characters and capturing the essence of human connection, and Strange Flowers is no exception.

The novel takes place in a small Irish village and revolves around the mysterious return of a young woman named Moll, after she went missing from the Tipperary hillside where she was born. The story is told from the perspectives of several different characters, each with their own unique voice and perspective on the events that unfold. What stands out most about this book is Ryan's ability to perfectly capture the humanness of his characters. They are flawed, complex, and utterly real, making the reader feel as though they are living and breathing right off the page.

Ryan's writing is also deeply Irish, with the landscape and culture of rural Ireland serving as a rich and vivid backdrop to the story. The novel is steeped in Irish history and mythology, from the ancient fairy folklore to the modern political tensions that still simmer beneath the surface.

But what truly sets Strange Flowers apart is Ryan's talent for capturing the beauty and complexity of human connection. The relationships between the characters are nuanced and layered, with each interaction revealing something new about the nature of love, loss, and the ties that bind us together.

In short, Strange Flowers is a masterpiece. Donal Ryan is a gifted writer, and this book showcases his talent for crafting authentic, complex characters and capturing the essence of human connection. I highly recommend this book to anyone who appreciates excellent writing, Irish modern literature, or simply a beautifully told story.

I’ve really enjoyed some of Donal Ryan’s other works so when I saw this by the same author, I was looking forward to reading it. It didn’t disappoint, beautiful storytelling paired with the lyrical writing style I have come to associate with his ouevre. The story is set in a rural Catholic village in the 1970s and sensitively explores the tensions of race and freely loving another in the face of the confines of a small Catholic town. Looking forward to reading more of his work!

Although I think the description of this book was slightly misleading, Donal Ryan's newest novel grasped my heart in the strangest of ways. It made me smile and sigh in frustration at the nuances of small town life, and it really made me appreciate the annoying quirks of who I am and where I have come from. It's honestly like nothing I have ever read before and all the Donal Ryan books on my shelves are now crying out, even more loudly than before, to be read.

Plot: story of an Irish family whose daughter runs away and gets pregnant and married by a black man. She then runs away from him and he follows her back to Ireland and stays. Only then to pivot and reveal towards the end that the daughter is a lesbian in love with the wife of the owner of the land her father takes care off


Opinion: I mean this book was okay, nothing spectacular to write home about. It was an okay storyline and to be honest none of the characters stood out to me or were interesting enough to capture my attention. I honestly read the book just to finish. The plot was nothing phenomenal and I would have happily DNF'd. The pivot at the end about the girl being lesbian I guess was meant to be shocking but honestly it was anticlimactic and added nothing to the story.

Recommendation: it is an okay read and I personally give it 2 ⭐️s. It is an acquired taste kind of book and I don't think I really enjoyed the taste.

Since the publication of 'The Spinning Heart' eight years ago, Donal Ryan has become the unofficial laureate of post-Boom Ireland - narrating the fallout from the economic Crash in a way comparable only to Mike McCormack and Kevin Barry. What he has delivered here, however, is something altogether different. Inhabiting the realm of old Ireland - Catholic 1970s Ireland - Ryan claims the family as his subject too. There's nothing this author can't turn his hand to without it turning to gold.

4.5★
“But still, any man faced in his own yard with a red-faced priest, solemn and black-suited, and a stocky high-chinned sergeant would surely feel his heart pound in his chest as his blood raced and rushed around his body.”

I don’t think it matters who you are, what your circumstances are, or where you live. If you saw these two people headed for your front door, you would be immediately trying to remember who in your family is where. Who’s not well, who’s at risk, who’s on the road? Who haven’t you heard from that you now remember should have????

Paddy and Kit’s daughter disappeared. She was not a little girl, and she wasn’t stolen or kidnapped. She left. She took her case, and they know she got on the bus herself. The people in the village tried to support Paddy and Kit (while privately congratulating themselves that it hadn’t happened to them). This is rural Ireland, where beliefs range from those of conventional religions to some from ancient traditions. Whatever works.

“Kindnesses were carried from distant hills and up from the lakeshore and laid at their door; novenas were pledged and envelopes containing handwritten petitions to Christ and to various saints, with clear instructions on timing and frequency of incantation, were left on the countertop propped against bottles or crockery the way they’d be seen. NEVER KNOWN TO FAIL was printed large on the outside of one of the envelopes and Kit folded that one away into her apron and she patted it now and then to be sure it was still there.”

While I was reading this, I moved from absolutely loving the prose – the very long sentences that just kept flowing and the perfect depiction of these grieving parents – to being annoyed with the interruptions made by the reciting of his manuscript, a work-in-progress, by one of the characters. I don’t know if there was a hidden message that I missed. It’s certainly possible. I even considered, albeit briefly, setting the book aside, since the entire section wasn’t interesting me in the slightest.

But then, the author moved back to earlier times and to other characters, and I immediately forgot about any thoughts of quitting. It ended up being a wonderful story, complex, beautiful, and not quite like anything else I’ve read. The relationships were so unexpected and yet shouldn’t be.

“The man who owned the shop was from Pakistan, but he was so kind you’d nearly think he was Irish, …”

… skin was only there to make a body waterproof, and the colour of it mattered not.”

The parents are careful how they behave when their daughter disappears.

“It wouldn’t do to be sympathizing too much, because that way Paddy might think they were thinking what it was only natural to think: that Moll Gladney was either pregnant or dead, and it was hard to know which one of those was worse.”

Moll does return, years later, just as suddenly as she left. This is not a spoiler – it is part of the pre-publicity and other reviews, and it happens early in the book. But she is changed and the family changes in unexpected ways. I doubt any readers will guess her reasons for leaving, but they should certainly understand them.

In the end, I loved this story, except for the inserted ‘manuscript’. It would have been a five-star read without it. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK (Transworld) for the preview copy which I enjoyed.

This is the first novel I've read by Donal Ryan and I found it to be a beautifully, poetically and sensitively written book with real empathy for the characters. Sadly, although it started off well I did feel it lacked in pace and plot so was ultimately disappointed.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC

I've never read anything by Donal Ryan before but this was a great one to start with! Set in 1970s Ireland, Kit and Paddy are devasted when their daughter Mol disappears without a trace.
5 years later Mol returns with a very vague explanation to where she has been for all those years.
The Catholic Church rules the lives of people in rural Ireland in the 70s but while Kit and Paddy are very much Irish Catholics in their beliefs and ways of living they are also years ahead of their time in terms of their acceptance of race and sexual orientation.
This book beautifully captures the fragility of relationships and the consequences peoples actions can have on their loved ones.

Donal Ryan cements himself as one of the 'Great Irish Writers'. His deft writing of empathy and pain shows itself again in this novel. He's a writer of great sensitivity,which reminds the reader of the importance of interconnectedness marked through painful absence.

This is my first Donal Ryan novel. I wasn't quite sure what to expect but I was immediately taken by the style and structure of the story.

We follow Kit and Paddy as their only daughter disappears and turns up 5 years later, with little explanation. The story then unfolds from there about why she left and how her life unfolded. A number of challenging topics are touched upon in the novel, namely racism and loss.

I raced through the first half of the book, thoroughly enjoying the pace of plot development, the narrative and learning about the characters. And then in the latter half I struggled. The structure and perspectives changed and I got a little lost in places.

Aside from structure and getting a little lost, that doesn't detract from the beautiful writing from Donal Ryan. It is poetic. Long, beautifully crafted sentences, full of emotion. He is a very talented author and I would give his other novels a read, definitely.

Thank you to @penguinrandomhouse @doubledaybooks and @transworldbooks for the opportunity to review.

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I’m a Donal Ryan devotee after reading Strange Flowers. He captures so many overwhelming feelings in an economy of words. In this book, the grief and shame experienced by the characters is tangible, and yet I came away with the overall impression of a story full of love, and heartbreak, and warmth, and unwavering belief. 4/5

Donal Ryan at times provides a back door to a “safe” Ireland where most is as it should be and there are fundamental certainties and a lukewarm sentimentality. But, having lulled the reader, he then introduces creative disruption.

Strange Flowers attempts to deliver in such a manner. Paddy the lovable postman and wife Kit are living in a homely small farm in 1970s Tipperary, though in a strangely-feudal relationship with their big-house neighbours.

However, their daughter Molly’s mysterious vanishing has totally undermined them. Her return leads to even more unsettling events, which resolve themselves in a gratifying way.

However, Donal Ryan is overly ambitious and spreads the story to class conflict, sexual identity and even the nature of perception.

In his other novels, he has reeled in the fish fully played out. And while there is much masterful storytelling in this book, the lines are too neatly sewn together at the end.

All the usual reasons to enjoy a Donal Ryan story, it starts off well and intriguing, with the strange disappearance of a daughter, which suggested to me immediately that this child had likely grown up keeping her own secret(s).

The novel is constructed in different parts, narrated from the different perspectives of some of the characters, but not all, and those who are not inhabited are notable in their absence.

I experienced discomfort in this, that certain characters and the effect of their presence had been glibly overlooked.

At the heart of this story is a mixed race relationship, formed in London but transported to Ireland (in the 1970's) and yet there is an absence of any portrayal of the likely racism that would most definitely have occurred (because we are limited to certain character's perspectives and their blinkered views).

In that respect, it felt contrived and unrealistic, with none of the black characters given any scope to express their humanity, with the exception of a one very white (prodigal) son. They've become subservient to the plot in their absence of voice.

"And Paddy wondered was it the child his wife was thankful for, or the colour of the child, the perfect, unblemished whiteness of this strange flower."

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for this e-copy in return for my honest review. A slow-moving and tenderly beautiful story. I'm a massive fan of Donal Ryan, having read all his previous work. A lyrical and delicately sympathetic family story. Simply stunning!

Thanks to NetGalley and The Publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this surprising and unexpected story (considering the blub). Great emotive witting from Donal Ryan. Fantastic story telling and story development across the different characters. I felt the structure worked well and added to give it a layer of suspense. However, I felt like it covered to many important themes without enough depth for my liking which is why I can only rate it 3 stars.

This felt somewhat like style over substance. The author writes beautifully but the book just wasn’t very interesting. Lots of issues but the huge jump in timescales left me unclear how those issues were resolved.

After Ryan's last novel 'From a Low and Quiet Sea' I was very much looking forward to this, and it doesn't disappoint. A lyrical and beautifully crafted story of family and a small community. Quiet but profound.