A satisfying read, even if you haven’t read The Spinning Heart. This book is written in multiple voices - each chapter a new person and viewpoint, revealing more about the central plot and themes.

The stories are connected as the characters inhabit the same community. Ryan skilfully builds this community in the reader’s mind by weaving stories of love and friction, as well as looming apprehension in the face of an overarching threat to the community. The threat is plain to all yet hidden by its perpetrators, who protect themselves by keeping their own hands clean.

Ryan writes of heavy subjects but does not let the words or story get weighed down, keeping things fresh through his style and with each new chapter voice.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy.

Heart, Be at Peace is the follow up to The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan. Ireland is now out of the recession that impacted the characters of The Spinning Heart but they are still dealing with the aftermath and a new threat to their community. Told from the viewpoints of many different characters at different stages throughout the timeline of the story, it revisits many of the characters from The Spinning Heart. If you haven’t read it, I encourage you to do so as it is my favourite of Ryan’s work but this can also be read as a stand-alone novel. Ryan is a beautiful writer who captures the nuances of Irish life and, in particular, the complexities of being an Irish man perfectly. All of these characters are fundamentally recognisable to me. I would say that Heart, Be at Peace does not pack the same emotional punch as The Spinning Heart but it is still a beautiful, immensely readable story that will stay with me.

This is the wonderful Irish writer Donal Ryan's latest offering, apparently a follow up to his much lauded earlier The Spinning Heart, structured around 21 voices that painted a picture of Ireland, some of whom reappear here. However, I have unfortunately never read that, the 21 voices here are portrayed with the author' trademark skilful brevity that captures and brings alive the characters he sketches, with a poignant lyricism, this time providing us with an updated atmospheric picture of contemporary Ireland. Set in Limerick, Clare, Tipperary, it touches on Ireland's past, and the changing threats, their impact and repercussions, and ominous and challenging dangers it faces, along with the limitations of small town living.

There is an authenticity in the distinctly different characters created and developed, the multiple perspectives, each connecting and building through its varied people the present day themes affecting the nation today, as it shapes into a social, economic, and political commentary. It includes the return of the untrustworthy Pokey Burke who had betrayed, Bobby Mahon with his worries about the drug dealers, the horrors associated with drugs, the rising crime, and the growing brutality and tensions, and then there is Triona, Bobby's wife. The gripping narrative leads to the drama of the conclusions.

There is a circular coming together at the end that brings a unity to this whole work, times may have moved on, but essentially people are people, pointing to the familiarity of history inevitably repeating itself again and again. Simply marvellous, and I really must read The Spinning Heart! Highly recommended to those who love Irish fiction. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

Novel or short story collection?

This is a book which isn’t sure if it’s a novel or short story collection. It consists of twenty-one chapters, each containing a monologue by an individual. The author uses a type of intense naturalism so it’s as if you stood next to one of these characters at the bar in a rural pub, listening in on the chat and gossip. All twenty-one characters live in the same small town somewhere in Ireland and all talk of the struggles and hurts they have to face to keep living as best they can. There is no contextual description by a narrator who would be able to set the scene and establish each character. All the reader has is the words spoken or thought by the individual. So the reader has to deduce the setting from clues within the monologue. So far, so innovative. But it makes for a challenging read. The reader has to read slowly and carefully so as to tune into the suggested situations.

Because the author eschews any sense of an exposition, it’s very easy to lose track (and thus interest) in what is going on. It’s more novel-like than it seems. Most of the twenty-one characters interact with the other characters as you would expect in a novel. Certain characters appear and reappear such as Pokey and Augie. Their misdemeanours and transgressions pop up all over the place. Violence and theft are never far away. So there’s a sense of a novel (but never fully formed as such) with the structure of a short story collection.
I struggled to read this book and it became much easier when I had a notebook and pen to hand so I could track events and the cross references between chapters. I often felt that I was reading the first draft of a radio play that hadn’t yet had the signposting of music and sound effects written in so as to help the reader understand better what was happening.

All credit to the author for attempting an individual approach to writing fiction. The characters and their predicaments are wonderfully well written. But it’s not an easy read. If you’re up for the challenge and have your notebook and pen to hand, why not give it a try?

My thanks go to NetGalley for providing an advance copy so that I may give an honest and unbiased review.

Twenty-one narrators from a small Irish town tell their stories as their rural community is threatened by drug dealers, debt and violence in this beautifully written book. It works like a series of snapshots which work together to reveal deeper truths. Each voice speaks simply but in a few lines, their personalities, feelings and experiences come alive from the page. I did find it a bit difficult to remember who was who and what they had done, but that was perhaps because I read in short bursts, and it might have been helpful if I had read the author’s earlier novel, “The Spinning Heart,” which introduced the characters, although it can also be enjoyed read alone. A vibrant and emotional book.

For fans of The Spinning Heart, this 9 years later follow on book is poignant, and beautifully written. I'm a longtime fan of Donal Ryan's offerings, and glad to say this one didn't disappoint! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance reader copy.

Firstly, a big thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read Donal Ryan's new book, Heart, Be at Peace. Donal Ryan is one of my favourite writers and this book is no exception to the genius he has shown in all of his previous novels. The story continues on from The Spinning Heart telling the story of the characters lives ten years on. Twenty one different voices tell their version of the truth of the small town dramas. Their lives are inter-woven but the community has a new threat that changes the dynamics causing an unrest and an unsettling of the past. I loved how DR unravels each character and exposes their weaknesses making them raw and vulnerable. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that can get their hands on it. 5 Stars

Beautifully written, very real voices in my head although I did have some trouble sorting out who was who as a lot of stories. Perhaps easier if I had read the prequel.

And mine is aching. Beautifully written. 4.5 rating, raised.

I had not encountered this author before, and will for sure now be searching out his earlier writing, particularly the one which pre-figures this, published over 10 years ago, The Spinning Heart.

It’s important to say the reader can read THIS book, as I did, without the need to read the earlier. Both are set in the same small rural town, and re-visit characters previous met ten years ago, so providing some kind of ‘sign of the times’ novel, through the lives of individuals.

If I HAD read The Spinning Heart, I would no doubt have immediately reread it, to remind myself of who someone was, 10 years earlier, and it would probably have given me a little more context. However, just like we discover someone’s back story over time, as we get to know them more deeply, I shall visit their past now, with the knowledge of the present adding depth.

This is a story of a close community, with all the dysfunctional rifts, resentments, and the cohering loyalties which community, like family, bring. So, relationships are complex, conflicts woven in.

Ryan does not tell his story in linear fashion, instead, there is a telling through the voices of 21 individuals, friends, family members, even those who have gone before, and for complex reasons, are unquiet spirits – or maybe, unquiet spirits merely in the memories of those still living

There is also a strong narrative within this, as some of the problems which deprivation, challenges with affordable housing and jobs bring, communities fracturing, opportunities for the young diminishing, are rife. Where slow and steady money opportunities are less ready, fast methods offer easy rewards for some, through drug running, recruiting small time crooks at an early stage at the school gates. So this is a major drive of plot.

The central character in all of this story is Bobby, a good man with a dark secret and one which is a darker one in his mind, than it might be in the mind of the one person he dreads knowing it.

The only reason I have withheld the final star, is because I think, curiously, I would have found this easier to handle the juggle of 21 different voices in a wood book, with the physical shape of chapters and empty space on pages. This might have just been a challenge of the digital ARC, with its inevitable not quite finalised formatting, but sometimes I did struggle a little to hold all these voices and their connections, together, even though the writing itself manages those voices well.

Whilst Donal Ryan's 'Heart, Be at Peace' is a companion novel to 'The Spinning Heart' published in 2012, it is very much a story that stands on its own two feet. Told from 21 different perspectives, it tells the story of a small rural community in Ireland who having experienced economic collapse, find themselves drawn to more dangerous and damaging ways to make money.

Ryan is not a novelist I have read before, and I'm so glad that something made me pick this book to review. The characterisation is amazing, and the way that the different perspectives weave together is clever and complex. Whilst at times I found myself uncertain about who people were and how they fitted, this just made me want to read the novel again, rather than being a difficulty. Indeed, I have now bought 'The Spinning Heart', and having read other reviews that reference authors who perhaps were inspired by Ryan's 2012 novel and use similar literary devices to tell their Irish story (e.g. 'Mouthing' by Orla Mackay) I have now found myself a whole area of literature I hadn't explored. I would highly recommend this novel and think it maybe my book of the year so far!

I’m always intrigued by a story told in multiple voices and this book satisfied that intrigue. They all have a different tale to tell and that then gives the reader the task of working out how the individual voices come together - for good or bad.
There is so much going on in this book, that I didn’t want to put it down; especially if I turned the page to a new voice - I had to keep reading because I wanted to hear what they had to say.
It was a new author for me to read and I shall definitely be reading more of his books.

Heart, Be at Peace
By Donal Ryan

I have been meaning to read something by Donal Ryan for ages. Although this is a sequel or companion piece to The Spinning Heart, it stands up well on it's own. It's a slim book but it packs a punch.

With an authentic Limerick, Clare, Tipperary setting, it is told from the perspective of 21 locals, each one distinctive, but with interconnecting elements. Each vignette is told in first person, so the effect is rather like gleaning gossip about the hinterland and it's inhabitants, and it's only through putting all the pieces together that you find out the more complete story of this community.

The writing is wonderful, elegant and shrewd. Ryan has a similar style to Anne Enright, where the characters profiles develop with each perspective you hear from. He has a distinctly Irish flair and would appeal to anyone who loves Niall Williams, Niamh Mulvey, Joseph O'Connor,
Kevin Barry.

I really like the sense of time and place he achieves, the social commentary he highlights and the gently structured narrative arc. This makes me want to explore this author's backlist. Highly recommend.

Publication date: 8th August 2024
Thanks to #NetGalley and #randomhouseuk for the eGalley

It was a confusing tale with an explosive ending.
After reading the early information about this book, I was expecting a literary feast, but sadly, it didn't reach form the high level I was anticipating. The fact that what is 3ssentially twenty-one short stories was highlighted at the start, but for me, it was difficult to find any coherence. There is a lot of rural Irish dialect used that I didn't have any problems with. Perhaps if I had read the author's previous book in the same location, then I might have related to this more than did.
The book is well written, albeit in a very unconventional style. It has some memorable points of interest and will undoubtedly appeal to some, but not to me.

This is like a big jigsaw with each character’s story adding to the picture and you can hear the characters talking in your head as you read. The only difficulty I had was sorting out who is who and how they all fit together. Maybe an idea to jot down names as you read? It didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the book though.

This is the first book I’ve read by Donal Ryan and I am completely smitten.
I love his writing style - with each character having their own chapter and the story gradually emerges from the perspectives and dialogues of each of the characters, who are all so beautifully and simply drawn .
Wonderful!

Thankfully this book can be read as a stand alone or as a companion piece to The Spinning Heart - a book I've not yet read.

Heart, Be At Peace is yet another example of stunning Irish literature. For me, it felt close to home because I've spent a lot of time on the west coast of that beautiful country and the characters are echoed in so many people I've met over time.

This short book is the story of small town Ireland told by its inhabitants in 21 different voices although all the stories intersect at various points. That makes it sound a little clinical but that's far from the truth. The writing is gentle, beautiful, lyrical and evocative whilst having flashes of violence, grief and pain. Donal Ryan manages to weave this intricate portrait of a town using many different voices but the whole is just as cohesive as a tale told by one person.

All of the voices are relevant but some stuck with me more than others - the stories of Denis and Triona are wonderful but Kate's was by far my favourite. (I swear it's not just the name).

Stunning. Highly recommended.

Thankyou very much to Netgalley and Random House UK for the advance review copy. Most appreciated.

'Heart, be at Peace' follows on from 'The Spinning Heart' but is set 10 years later. The problems of the Celtic tiger are more or less over and now Ireland is dealing with the influx of drugs to it's villages. The book is again told from the point of view of different voices who are all residents of a small village. I definitely think it helps to have read the first book for the back story of the narrators. It is a very sensitive book and one can't help but feel involved in the characters lives. The only disappointment I had was the ending which seemed quite abrupt. I would certainly recommend reading this book but preferably in conjunction with it's partner The Spinning Heart.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

If my blogging has been marked by anything this year, it is been debut authors, it I’ve also read a number of books by Irish writers. Ryan seems to be popular, the writing is efficient enough. It seems to be a state of the nation novel, which is a trend in Irish fiction as the country itself sails into uncharted waters.

It seems, at times to be an indentikit of what an Irish novel looks like in 2024 (the first person narrative of Orla Mackay’s Mouthing), the reflection of Irish history to predict it’s future (Niamh Mulvey’s The Ammendments, one of the best novels this year). It’s also got some of Roddy Doyle’s sardonic wit and a little hint of Anne Enright’s Kubrickian aloofness.

The narrative, however seems loose, disconnected. There’s the odd current of darker waters, but it’s a short novel, in a year of short novels; that doesn’t always have the literary weight that it’s aiming for. It’s published by Random House on 8th August and I thank them for a preview copy. #heartbeatpeace.

Donal Ryan writes beautifully about things that can be quite ugly.
This short novel, is a string of linked points of view from 21 characters.
It is a follow up from Ryan's debut novella This Spinning Heart, and revisits his characters 10 years on..
Ryan has a gift for language with phrases that stay in the heart long after one has finished the book.
Our book group recently discussed Ryan's novels and, while some members found some of his writing uncomfortable in parts, all agreed that this is a writer of great skill with a talent for writing lyrically even when the subject matter may be dark in parts. Many members are now looking forward to the publication of this latest title.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Random House, for an earc of this latest , beautifully crafted piece of writing from Donal Ryan.

Brilliant novel, each chapter narrated in the voice of a different character. Simple and emotional with clever writing about rural Ireland.