The Heart's Invisible Furies

The wonderfully written and engaging life story of Cyril Avery, a gay Irishman, who's path we follow from birth to old age in 7 year jumps. He's surrounded by a cast of tragic yet often darkly funny characters, that keep reappearing in his life. His adoptive parents Maude and Charles Avery are especially memorable and his best friend Julian is charming in his rascal ways. And this is as much the book of Catherine, Cyril's birth mother, who receives the bookends of the story, and looms over it as the true heroine.

Despite there being a lot of sadness in the plot, Boyne's writing and especially his dialogues are cheeky and humorous, and you can laugh and cry along with Cyril and his adventures. The core fates of the book make it also a denunciation of the Irish church and the culture it helped create, that caused hardships and enabled bigotries for way too long.

A 4.5 stars read.