Where Are the Kings: The stunning Irish Times Number 1 bestseller from the winner of the Orwell Prize for Fiction

Tender, moving, full of warmth and crackling with humour and the love of family, the exquisite new novel from the winner of the Orwell Prize for Fiction and the Irish Book of the Year...

Something terrible has happened to Jack but no one seems to want to talk about it.

His uncles can tell him about everything from quantum physics to how to hunt for deer, but they can’t seem to tell him anything about their own sister or why Jack doesn’t feel sad for her in the way he should, or why Grandad tries to shoot Jack’s dad when he gets out of the hospital.

Still, there’s work to be done in the oily wonderland of his uncles’ garage; there’s his beautiful aunt Rose to hypnotise him and his loving grandparents to console him; then there’s JJ, who wants to fight him one day and save him the next.

But with so many questions, in a family with so many secrets, it is difficult for Jack to understand the person he is becoming. How can a simple boy learn to become a king?

‘Beautiful, hilarious and completely gripping’ RACHEL JOYCE

'No one gets inside the heart like Donal Ryan' KIT DE WAAL

‘Donal Ryan conjures up characters so solid, so complete and authentic, it immediately feels as though you have known them for your entire life’ JOANNA CANNON

© Donal Ryan 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026