The Heart’s Invisible Furies

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What to expect

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

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 three score years and ten, 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.
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Readers love the next book by John Boyne, A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom, out 23 July 2020

***** ‘Very unique, very well written and crafted … a journey you will never forget.’
***** ‘It’s structure is like nothing I have seen before … the rewards on reading it are immense.’
***** ‘An extraordinary book…beautifully and intelligently written, timeless and insightful.’
***** ‘This is an imaginative tour de force.’
***** ‘Ambitious and breathtakingly evocative … takes your breath away.’
***** ‘A masterpiece... I can’t praise this book enough; had me gripped from the first page. Sublime!’

Critics Review

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

    Vogue

  • It’s been a long time since I read anything so compelling and satisfying. At times, incredibly funny, at others, heartrending

  • 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

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