The Spinning Heart is a social novel written by Irish novelist Donal Ryan. It was first published in 2012 by Penguin Random House. Steerforth Press published the US edition in 2013.[1][2][3] It won the 2012 Irish Book Award for the Newcomer of the Year and Book of the Year.[4][5] It won the 2013 Guardian First Book Award[6] It also won the European Union Prize for Literature (Ireland) in 2015[7] It was longlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize[8] and shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award in 2014.[9] In 2016 it was voted Irish Book of the Decade in a poll run by Dublin Book Festival.[10]

First edition

Plot

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The Spinning Heart is set in the aftermath of the collapse of the Celtic Tiger. Each chapter is told from the perspective of a different character, affected by the recession in a different way as a local property developer, Pokey Burke, goes bust and flees the country.[11]

References

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  1. ^ Ryan, Donal (20 October 2013). "THE SPINNING HEART". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on 11 November 2021.
  2. ^ Barry, Sebastian (8 January 2014). "The Thing About December by Donal Ryan – review". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 January 2014.
  3. ^ Kalotay, Daphne (21 March 2014). "Donal Ryan's 'Spinning Heart'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 21 March 2014.
  4. ^ Boland, Rosita (23 November 2012). "Banville wins novel of year at awards". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 23 November 2012.
  5. ^ "The Spinning Heart wins Book of the Year". RTÉ. 18 December 2012. Archived from the original on 2 July 2018.
  6. ^ Press, GNM (28 November 2013). "Donal Ryan has been named the winner of the 2013 Guardian First Book Award". The Guardian.
  7. ^ "Winners of the European Union Prize for Literature 2015 (EUPL) on display in Frankfurt". Federation of European Publishers. 14 October 2015.
  8. ^ "The Spinning Heart | The Booker Prizes". The Booker Prizes.
  9. ^ Hilliard, Mark (9 April 2014). "Donal Ryan among writers shortlisted for 2014 Impac Award". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 10 April 2014.
  10. ^ "Donal Ryan wins Dublin Book Festival's Book of The Decade". 14 November 2016. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  11. ^ Jordan, Justine (28 November 2013). "The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan – review". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 29 November 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2023.