The Queen of Dirt Island

"This story is about four generations of women in rural Ireland, beginning in the 1980s with the birth of Saoirse (and the death, the same day, of her father). We see this family through Saoirse’s eyes (and what perceptive eyes!) as she grows up under the care of her mother, Eileen, and grandmother Mary – Eileen’s mother-in-law turned best friend. Men both dead and alive linger at the periphery, but these women run the show, with fierce opinions and even fiercer love that are tested when Saoirse becomes pregnant. Their lives unfold in short, lyrical chapters that sneak quietly into your gut and grab you by the heart."