{"product_id":"where-are-the-kings-9780857529589","title":"Where Are the Kings","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom the multiple award-winning, No 1 bestseller Donal Ryan, an unforgettable, intensely moving and uplifting novel about a young boy coming of age. No one captures the poetry of ordinary lives like Donal Ryan.  Tender, moving, full of warmth, crackling with humour and the love of family, the exquisite new novel from the author of HEART BE AT PEACE, winner of the Orwell Prize for Fiction and the Irish Book of the Year  'Beautiful, hilarious and completely gripping' RACHEL JOYCE, author of The Handmade God  'No one gets inside the heart like Donal Ryan' KIT DE WAAL, author of The Best of Everything  'Donal Ryan 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 An Unlikely Visitor  *** Something terrible has happened to Jack but no one seems to want to talk about it.  His uncles can tell him about everything from quantum physics to how to hunt for deer, but they can't seem to tell him anything about their own sister or why Jack doesn't feel sad for her in the way he should, or why Grandad tries to shoot Jack's dad when he gets out of the hospital.  Still, there's work to be done in the oily wonderland of his uncles' garage; there's his beautiful aunt Rose to hypnotise him and his loving grandparents to console him; then there's JJ, who wants to fight him one day and save him the next.  But with so many questions, in a family with so many secrets, it is difficult for Jack to understand the person he is becoming. How can a simple boy learn to become a king? ____  'Tender, funny, mysterious and hopeful... a flawless gem' M L Stedman, Sunday Times bestselling author of A Far-flung Life and The Light Between Oceans  'Warm, irreverent and desperately humane.' Jan Carson, author of Few \u0026amp; Far Between  'So arresting, so captivating...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.' Annie Mac\u003ch4\u003eDetails\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eISBN13: 9780857529589\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormat: Hardback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNumber of Pages: 224\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEdition: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication Date: 18 Aug 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication City, Country: London, United Kingdom\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDimensions (cm): 22.4(H)x14.5(L)x2.2(W)336\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWeight (gm): 336\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h4\u003eDonal Ryan, from Nenagh, County Tipperary, has published seven number one bestselling novels and a short story collection. He has won several awards for his fiction, including the European Union Prize for Literature, the Guardian First Book Award and six Irish Book Awards, and has been shortlisted for several more, including the Costa Book Award and the Dublin International Literary Award. He has been nominated for the Booker Prize twice. His most recent novel, Heart Be at Peace, won the Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards, the Orwell Prize for Fiction and was shortlisted for Novel of the Year at the Nero Book Awards. His work has been adapted for stage and screen. He teaches Creative Writing at the University of Limerick.\u003ch4\u003eReviews\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cb\u003eBeautiful, hilarious and completely gripping… \u003c\/b\u003eI 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… \u003cb\u003ea story filled with love that shines a light on all the hidden places. My life is better because of it.\u003c\/b\u003e * Rachel Joyce, author of The Homemade God *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhere are the Kings \u003c\/i\u003eis a \u003cb\u003ebrilliant\u003c\/b\u003e, quietly devastating exploration of the fledgling heart. \u003cb\u003eTender, funny, mysterious and hopeful\u003c\/b\u003e, it’s \u003cb\u003ea flawless gem\u003c\/b\u003e 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 *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNo one gets inside the heart like Donal Ryan.\u003c\/b\u003e  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 *\u003cbr\u003eI 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. \u003cb\u003eThis novel though... oh my heart.\u003c\/b\u003e To explore grief through the eyes of a child, and to do it so \u003cb\u003eexquisitely\u003c\/b\u003e and \u003cb\u003eso elegantly\u003c\/b\u003e, is just \u003cb\u003emind-blowing. \u003c\/b\u003eThe thing I LOVE about Donal Ryan's writing is that \u003cb\u003ehe uncovers the poetry that hides within ordinary life\u003c\/b\u003e. 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 *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe arrival of a new Donal Ryan novel always feels like Christmas morning\u003c\/b\u003e and \u003ci\u003eWhere are the Kings \u003c\/i\u003edoes not disappoint. It's a powerful meditation on boyhood, family and trauma, expertly couched in Ryan's devastating prose. \u003cb\u003eWarm, irreverent and desperately humane this is a novel which manages to be timeless, current and prescient\u003c\/b\u003e. * Jan Carson, author of Few \u0026amp; Far Between *\u003cbr\u003eYou know when a book is \u003cb\u003eso arresting, so captivating\u003c\/b\u003e, that you have to actively seek a long time just to think about it – to luxuriate in the characters in all their \u003cb\u003echarm and humour and sadness\u003c\/b\u003e and confusion, a book that makes you look at \u003cb\u003ethe world differently\u003c\/b\u003e, 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 *\u003cbr\u003eCements his place among the best Irish authors… Ryan has a talent for creating characters that readers care deeply about… \u003cb\u003eTold with warmth and heart, this slim but emotionally deep novel is touching and one you can’t help but be moved by.\u003c\/b\u003e * Good Housekeeping *\u003cbr\u003eA new Donal Ryan novel is always something to anticipate keenly and \u003cb\u003ethere is nothing to disappoint in the marvellous coming-of-age tale \u003ci\u003eWhere Are the Kings\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e… 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 *\u003cbr\u003eAs 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.\u003cb\u003e' \u003ci\u003eWhere Are the Kings\u003c\/i\u003e is a marvellous study of the mind in crisis.\u003c\/b\u003e * Literary Review *\u003cbr\u003eRyan has an exceptional ability to capture the complexities of ordinary lives, and \u003cb\u003ethis beautifully crafted novel is filled with compassion, humour and humanity.\u003c\/b\u003e * Mature Times *","brand":"Donal Ryan","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49113803849945,"sku":"9780857529589","price":34.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0502\/9530\/8441\/files\/9780857529589.jpg?v=1787147083","url":"https:\/\/www.arielbooks.com.au\/products\/where-are-the-kings-9780857529589","provider":"Ariel","version":"1.0","type":"link"}