Strange Flowers
As seen:
By Donal Ryan
avg rating
2 reviews
Winner of the An Post Irish Novel of the Year 2020
Longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award
‘You have to truly love people to write like this’ RACHEL JOYCE
‘One of the greatest novels of this century’ SUNDAY INDEPENDENT
‘Gorgeously wrought’ GUARDIAN
In 1973, twenty-year-old Moll Gladney takes a morning bus from her rural home and disappears.
Bewildered and distraught, Paddy and Kit must confront an unbearable prospect: that they will never see their daughter again.
Five years later, Moll returns. What – and who – she brings with her will change the course of her family’s life forever.
Beautiful and devastating, this exploration of loss, alienation and the redemptive power of love reaffirms Donal Ryan as one of the most talented and empathetic writers at work today.
‘Outstanding … Tender and beautifully written’ INDEPENDENT
‘All the beauty and sorrow of life can be found in these pages’ KATHLEEN MACMAHON
‘Exquisite . . . Beautiful’ ANNE GRIFFIN, author of WHEN ALL IS SAID
‘Ryan gathers together the fragments of broken lives and makes us something new and beautiful from them’ RÓNÁN HESSION, author of LEONARD AND HUNGRY PAUL
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Some comments and observations from Hythe Book Group:-
A possibly derivative Irish story - small, rural community in 1970s - characters, church, landed gentry, peasant farmers, community, family, yet with a twist as the unexpected happens. We assume a young girl has fled to London in shame as pregnant but turns out to be a very different story and the secrets are only gradually revealed over time with hints along the way which keep us reading.
Absolutely loved it - read it 3 times. Compassionate, lyrical storytelling about different kinds of love - between parents and children, between couples, ( Paddy and Kit), between two women,( Moll and Ellen),between older man and younger (Paddy and Alexander)
Read it aloud in my head with an Irish brogue. Beautifully told. No speech marks or direct dialogue and long flowing sentences yet easy to read.
Loved Paddy - such a gentle, kind, dignified and sensitive man
Class, race and religion.
Idyllic pastoral scenes
Interesting the Biblical chapter titles - Genesis, Judges, Exodus , Song of Songs etc
Liked the story that Josh was writing. Writer said he based Josh on himself as an adolescent struggling writer. The book was written at a time of grief for Ryan as he had recently lost his father. Some redrafting of the novel.Thought last section the least successful. Told in the present tense.
Portrayal of London in the 1970s. Thought the rhythm of Caribbean language , expressions, patterns of speech etc was authentic. Racism both in London and when Alexander arrives in small Irish town.
Implausible perhaps that Honey and Josh should meet up in London.
Parable of Jesus and the Blind Man.
Discussion about cover motif. Some of us hadn't seen the black, white and brown faces or the similarity to a womb - we saw a shiitake mushroom!!
An easy read with some nice descriptive passages evoking rural life in Ireland in 1970s ( which didn't seem to have much changed for centuries - domination of Church and gentry) but felt it lost its way when dealing with black families in London.
12 of us had read it. Scores ranged from 10 to one 5 but most were 8s and 9s. Total score of 98 so an average of 8.2. Looks this might well be one of our best books of 2022?
A charming, unhurried novel that's sad and quiet and beautifully written with the Strange Flowers of the title referring to anyone who could be considered at all different by the community in which they live.
