Winner of the Guardian First Book Award 2013 Shortlisted for the Dublin IMPAC Literary Award 2014 Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2013 Winner of Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards 2012

My father still lives back the road past the weir in the cottage I was reared in. I go there every day to see is he dead and every day he lets me down. He hasnt yet missed a day of letting me down.

In the aftermath of Irelands financial collapse, dangerous tensions surface in an Irish town. As violence flares, the characters face a battle between public persona and inner desires. Through a chorus of unique voices, each struggling to tell their own kind of truth, a single authentic tale unfolds.

The Spinning Heartspeaks for contemporary Ireland like no other novel. Wry, vulnerable, all-too human, it captures the language and spirit of rural Ireland and with uncanny perception articulates the words and thoughts of a generation. Technically daring and evocative of Patrick McCabe and J.M. Synge, this novel of small-town life is witty, dark and sweetly poignant.

Donal Ryans brilliantly realized debut announces a stunning new voice in literary fiction.

Donal Ryan is from Nenagh in County Tipperary. His first three novels,The Spinning Heart, The Thing About DecemberandAll We Shall Know, and his short story collectionA Slanting of the Sun, have all been published to major acclaim.The Spinning Heartwon the Guardian First Book Award, the EU Prize for Literature (Ireland), and Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards; it was shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Desmond Elliott Prize, and was recently voted 'Irish Book of the Decade'. His fourth novel,From a Low and Quiet Sea, will be published in March 2018.A former civil servant, Donal lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Limerick. He lives with his wife Anne Marie and their two children just outside Limerick City.

This stunning debut has won major acclaim, winning the Guardian First Book Award and Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards ; it was shortlisted for the Dublin IMPAC Literary Award and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.