Rebecca's Reviews > Heart, Be at Peace

I read Donal Ryan’s first three books – the two short novels
The Spinning Heart and The Thing About December and the short story collection A Slanting of the Sun – but then lost track of his career. When I heard he was publishing a sequel of sorts to his terrific The Spinning Heart, I couldn’t resist. “Madness comes circling around. Ten-year cycles, as true as the sun will rise,” one character remarks here. Set a decade on, this replicates the structure of Ryan’s debut novella: 21 short chapters, each with a different first-person narrator. The Spinning Heart took place in the wake of the financial crisis and centered on murder and kidnapping cases – both of which still resonate 10 years later. I read it as an e-ARC and can’t go back to check, but my impression is that Heart, Be at Peace focuses on many of the same characters, if not the same exact set and order.

Once again, Bobby Mahon is the closest thing to a protagonist. His construction business has recovered from the crash, but he still struggles with guilt and anxiety, including when a so-called friend tries to blackmail him over a compromising photograph. The main plot, which involves a small-town drug ring, pulls in so many people and incidents. You piece it all together through hints that accrete gradually. More so than parsing the Limerick organized crime network, though, the pleasure is encountering all the fully realized but very different voices. You can hear them in your head, the Irish accent stronger in some and the speech more slang-filled in others. Each narrative is self-contained but they also link together.

In what is quite a gritty, macho book, the women’s stories stand out all the more. Lily has ancient knowledge of spells that she’d love to pass on to her granddaughter, yet is dismayed when Millicent only wants the magic to bind her no-good boyfriend to her. Hillary is a defence lawyer whose clients never do themselves any favours with their behaviour and dress. Fathers and sons are key, as in this novel’s predecessor, but Ryan also features mothers, daughters and wives who often know more than they let on. Another interesting voice is that of Vasya, a Russian immigrant who chooses to live in an outdoor encampment.

It can be a challenge to keep track of who’s who and how everything is connected. Overall, this feels less fresh and timely than The Spinning Heart. But it’s certainly possible to enjoy it even if you haven’t read its companion novel. It reminded me especially of Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting, and you may also find the style reminiscent of Colin Barrett or Caoilinn Hughes. So many Irish writers are masters of voice and tone, and the same is true of Donal Ryan. Do try his work if you haven’t already. He has eight books to choose from now!

Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.