Editions

The Heart's Invisible Furies

  • Imprint: Black Swan

  • ISBN: 9781784161002

  • Length: 736  Pages

  • Dimensions: 198mm x 127mm x 127mm

  • Weight: 492g

  • RRP: £8.99

The Heart's Invisible Furies

'Compelling and satisfying... At times, incredibly funny, at others, heartrending' Sarah Winman, author of When God Was a Rabbit

Forced to flee the scandal brewing in her hometown, Catherine Goggin finds herself pregnant and alone, in search of a new life at just sixteen. She knows she has no choice but to believe that the nun she entrusts her child to will find him a better life.

Cyril Avery is not a real Avery, or so his parents are constantly reminding him. Adopted as a baby, he’s never quite felt at home with the family that treats him more as a curious pet than a son. But it is all he has ever known.

And so begins one man’s desperate search to find his place in the world. Unspooling and unseeing, Cyril is a misguided, heart-breaking, heartbroken fool. Buffeted by the harsh winds of circumstance towards the one thing that might save him from himself, but when opportunity knocks, will he have the courage, finally, take it?

  • Imprint: Black Swan

  • ISBN: 9781784161002

  • Length: 736  Pages

  • Dimensions: 198mm x 127mm x 127mm

  • Weight: 492g

  • RRP: £8.99

Reviews

  • Tender, dark, hilarious, heartbreaking—I loved it

    Vogue

  • the most beautifully written and crafted novel ... heartbreaking

    Santa Montefiore

  • By turns savvy, witty and achingly sad . . . This is a novelist at the top of his game.

    The Mail on Sunday

  • I ran through the whole range of human emotions while reading this brilliant novel. It's a masterpiece.

    Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of The Last Act of Love

  • Screamingly funny one minute and heartbreaking the next.

    Daily Express

  • A special read

    BBC Radio 4 Front Row

  • Boyne creates lightness out of doom, humour out of desperately sad situations, creating a compelling page-turner… a terrific read.

    The Press Association

  • An epic novel…. Worthy of the great master of the Irish comic novel, Flann O’Brien. The Heart’s Invisible Furies proves that John is not just one of Ireland’s best living novelists but also one of the best novelists of Ireland.

    Sunday Express

  • Written with verve, humour and heart…at its core, The Heart’s Invisible Furies aspires to be not just the tale of Cyril Avery, a man buffeted by coincidence and circumstance, but the story of Ireland itself

    Irish Times

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About the Author

John Boyne

John Boyne was born in Ireland in 1971. He is the author of eleven novels for adults, six for younger readers and a collection of short stories. Perhaps best known for his 2006 multi-award-winning book The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, John’s other novels, notably The Absolutist and A History of Loneliness, have been widely praised and are international bestsellers. Most recently, The Heart's Invisible Furies was a Richard & Judy Bookclub word-of-mouth bestseller, and A Ladder to the Sky was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award in association with Listowel Writers’ Week. His novels are published in over fifty languages.

John Boyne

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Extracts

Extract | The Heart's Invisible Furies | 'Is that you, God? It's me, Cyril'

In The Heart's Invisible Furies, 14 year-old Cyril confesses his attraction to other boys to his priest, in the hope that it will secure the release of his kidnapped friend Julian
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Recommendations

John Boyne: The powerful books that I read in 2017

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Podcasts

John Boyne

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