The Thing About December

Description

Brilliantly realized and deeply moving second novel from the author of the award-winning The Spinning Heart. From the twice Man Booker longlisted author of From a Low and Quiet Sea 'A force of nature ... a life-enhancing talent' Sebastian Barry While the Celtic Tiger rages, and greed becomes the norm, Johnsey Cunliffe desperately tries to hold on to the familiar, even as he loses those who all his life have protected him from a harsh world. Village bullies and scheming land-grabbers stand in his way, no matter where he turns. Set over the course of one year of Johnsey's life, The Thing About December breathes with his grief, bewilderment, humour and agonizing self-doubt. This is a heart-twisting tale of a lonely man struggling to make sense of a world moving faster than he is. Donal Ryan's award-winning debut, The Spinning Heart, garnered unprecedented acclaim, and The Thing About December confirms his status as one of the best writers of his generation. 'His paragraphs are unnoticeably beautiful, his heart always on show, and he writes with a social accuracy that is devastating' Anne Enright 'Compelling and heartbreaking . . beautiful, yet simple and utterly convincing' Sunday Times

Donal Ryan is from Nenagh in County Tipperary. His first three novels, The Spinning Heart, The Thing About December and All We Shall Know, and his short story collection A Slanting of the Sun, have all been published to major acclaim. The Spinning Heart won the Guardian First Book Award, the EU Prize for Literature (Ireland), and Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards; it was shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Desmond Elliott Prize, and was voted 'Irish Book of the Decade'. His fourth novel, From a Low and Quiet Sea, was longlisted for Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2018. A former civil servant, Donal lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Limerick. He lives with his wife Anne Marie and their two children just outside Limerick City.

A force of nature ... a life-enhancing talent -- Sebastian Barry A force of nature ... a life-enhancing talent -- Sebastian Barry His paragraphs are unnoticeably beautiful, his heart always on show, and he writes with a social accuracy that is devastating -- Anne Enright His paragraphs are unnoticeably beautiful, his heart always on show, and he writes with a social accuracy that is devastating -- Anne Enright Compelling and heartbreaking . . beautiful, yet simple and utterly convincing * The Sunday Times *