Ratings122
Average rating4.6
From the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Boy In the Striped Pajamas, a sweeping, heartfelt saga about the course of one man's life, beginning and ending in post-war Ireland...
Cyril Avery is not a real Avery -- or at least, that's what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn't a real Avery, then who is he?
Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community, and adopted by a well-to-do, if eccentric, Dublin couple via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redemptorist nun, Cyril is adrift in the world, anchored only tenuously by his heartfelt friendship with the infinitely more glamourous and dangerous Julian Woodbead.
At the mercy of fortune and coincidence, he will spend a lifetime coming to know himself and where he came from - and over his many years, will struggle to discover an identity, a home, a country, and much more.
In this, Boyne's most transcendent work to date, we are shown the story of Ireland from the 1940s to today through the eyes of one ordinary man. The Heart's Invisible Furies is a novel to make you laugh and cry while reminding us all of the redemptive power of the human spirit.
- Named Book of the Month Club's Book of the Year, 2017
- Selected one of New York Times Readers’ Favorite Books of 2017
- Winner of the 2018 Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award
Reviews with the most likes.
And yet for all my happiness at seeing him happy and secure in who he was, there was something terribly painful about it too. What I would not have given to be that young at this time and to be able to experience such unashamed honesty.
Laugh-out-loud funny and quietly heartbreaking, a story about the life of one gay man from birth to old age as he grapples with his identity while struggling to live in a world full of bigotry. So witty while being so incredibly moving too. What a book! ❤️
I loved this book, Capital L. It felt a lot like a Dickens book - a lot of vignettes about the same character. I laughed out loud a lot, and also got teary-eyed at parts. The dialogue is so sharp and witty, and it deals with serious topics in a real way without being preachy. Just an all around well written book that I didn't want to put down.
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