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

A RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB BOOK

‘Beautiful, hilarious and completely gripping’ Rachel Joyce, bestselling author of The Handmade God

'I loved it from the first word to the last' Kit de Waal, author of The Best of Everything

'A beautiful book. And wise. And tender. And funny' Sarah Winman, author of Still Life

'Made me laugh and cry in equal measure' Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things

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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?

Timeless and elegiac, Where are the Kings is a beautifully wrought novel for fans of Colm Tóibín, Samantha Harvey and Douglas Stuart's Shuggie Bain.
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'A book that will break your heart and stitch it back together again' Irish Independent

‘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, author of An Unlikely Visitor

'Tender, funny, mysterious and hopeful... a flawless gem' M L Stedman, Sunday Times bestselling author of A Far-flung Life and The Light Between Oceans

'Warm, irreverent and desperately humane.' Jan Carson, author of Few & Far Between

'So arresting, so captivating...a book that makes you look at the world differently, while at the same time cranking open your heart and letting the whole world pour in.' Annie Macmanus

* Number One bestseller, Irish Times, August 2026