The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne

review by Maryom 

Starting in 1940s Ireland and running to the present day, The Heart's Invisible Furies is the story - cradle to grave - of Cyril Avery. Even before his birth, it's made clear that he's not wanted by society - his unmarried mother is shamed in front of her family and neighbours by the village priest, physically thrown out of the church and told in no uncertain terms to leave town and never come back! As an adopted child and later a homosexual man, Cyril is constantly made to feel an outsider, unwanted and unloved. 

Given a home by an odd emotion-less couple, Cyril is deprived of affection, constantly told he isn't a 'real Avery' by his adoptive father and generally treated rather like a decorative piece of furniture. It's no surprise therefore that when he meets charismatic youngster Julian, Cyril is instantly infatuated and the seeds are sown for an on/off lifetime friendship. As he grows into manhood, Cyril comes to acknowledge that he's gay, again putting himself outside society's norms (at least for 1960s Ireland), forcing him to lead a double life, hiding his true self and ultimately leading to a foolish act which forces him to flee Ireland. 

This latest work by John Boyne is a wonderful, sweeping epic spanning seventy years. Although it deals with many 'issues', this is the tale of one particular man's life, but a life inextricably bound up with Ireland's own story - from the tyrannical role played by the church in the 40s and 50s, and the degrading of anyone who doesn't fit within the accepted norms, to the liberal attitude of today. Throughout Cyril's life, from IRA outrages to mingling with politicians and literary figures, he seems to have been involved in, or on the periphery of, major events.

The book opens dramatically with a scene that, with its echoes of Hester Prynne's shaming in The Scarlet Letter, feels more like something from 17th century New England than 20th century Europe. Although I've read much about the near absolute control held over people's lives by the Catholic Church in Ireland, I was still stunned that such a scene could have taken place not that long ago!
From there, the story leaps forward in bursts, picking up Cyril's story at seven year intervals, each marking a significant point in his life, as he struggles to define himself (he's certainly not a 'real Avery', as his adoptive father never fails to point out!), and to find acceptance and love. His choices aren't always the best but it does feel that he's trying to be honest and do what he feels is right - the consequences though are too often tragic. 

Telling the story in the first person, Boyne uses dialogue to both further the story and shed insight on characters' emotions. I particularly loved the exchanges between Cyril and the women in his life, which capture their warmth and playfulness of their relationships; I actually thought at one point that his mother might steal the show from him completely, with her talk of elderly ladies ogling their gym instructor! The structure still allows the reader to know things which Cyril doesn't, and characters appear time and again without Cyril realising their significance to his story; it's cleverly done, and doesn't feel like too great a coincidence but I did find myself urging Cyril to ask just the right question that would reveal so much.

I read a review e-copy so didn't realise the length - just over 600 pages - till I was searching out links for this review, but I loved every bit and wouldn't want to cut a single page. It's full of everything from joy to despair, and I can't believe anyone could read it and not be moved. 

Maryom's review - 5 stars

Publisher - Doubleday

Genre - adult fiction 

Maryom's Picks of the Year - 2014

 Last year I couldn't cut my 'picks of the year' down to a small selection at all. This year, I'm being more ruthless and from an extensive longlist I've chosen a Top Twelve.....

I think there's a tendency to pick more recently read books for a list like this but, just to prove there are exceptions, top of my list is the first book I reviewed this year - Donal Ryan's The Thing About December The heart-breaking story of gentle but dim-witted Johnsey Cunliffe is played out over a year, a chapter for each month, leading to the climax in December; an immensely sad but compelling read.




Sticking with the grim side of life, and another book from early in the year - Cynan Jones' The Dig charts a clash of wills and lifestyles between Daniel, a farmer committed to his land and animals, and an anonymous badger-baiter, earning his living through cruelty. It's raw and bleak, a definite eye-opener for anyone who thinks the countryside is a rural idyll.







In A History of Loneliness John Boyne tackles the fallout from the paedophile scandals that rocked the Catholic Church in Ireland. Father Odran Yates has been a priest for forty years, has tried to live a good, blameless life, ignoring the abuses of power taking place around him, but now has to face up to his niggling conscience.






Carys Bray's debut novel, A Song For Issy Bradley, is about loss, hope, faith and family as a Mormon family face up to probably the most devastating thing that can happen - the death of a child. Ian and Claire, and teenage children Zippy and Alma struggle with their faith and their loss; only 7 year old Jacob can see an answer - to work a miracle and bring Issy back. Ultimately hopeful and life-affirming, there are without doubt some dreadfully dark moments but they're balanced by light, humour and love.






  Another family - this time the Saddeqs from Lahore in Pakistan. Roopa Farooki's The Good Children explores the complex relationships within this family- between children and parents, and between children themselves - as they grow up, spread their wings, leave home for England or the US, but always feel that tug that binds them together. It's grand in scale - moving from the1940s to the present day - and size - 620 pages, though it didn't feel a page too long.




I struggle to find ghost stories that scare me, so I was oddly delighted to stumble across this - Sugar Hall by Tiffany Murray. While his mother makes plans for a new life in the old family home, Dieter, the boy-heir, encounters a strange ghostly boy with evil designs. With a growing feeling of menace, this is a truly spine-chilling read, probably best avoided late at night.

 Another debut, this time an excellent sci-fi dystopian thriller. Tomorrow and Tomorrow follows grief-consumed Dominic as he wanders through the virtual archive that brings nuclear-blast destroyed Pittsburgh and its inhabitants back to life.  Not-too-distant future dystopia with TV-like 'adware' that constantly streams news, adverts and reality TV style porn direct into the brain, a destroyed city recreated in virtual form, a twisting turning thriller and grief-struck hero combine to create a wonderful, complex story.

 The Lemon Grove by Helen Walsh could easily have been just another tale of sun, sea and illicit sex but it's so much more; a perceptive portrait of a family reaching a turning point in their lives, a marriage that's a little too stale, and a woman seeking to re-gain her lost youth by tumbling heads over heels in lust with a hot 17 year old. I absolutely loved it.




The storyline to Hamid Ismailov's The Dead Lake reads almost like a fairy tale - a young boy ventures into a forbidden lake and is cursed for life - but the evil wizard here is the Russian government and the lake has been polluted by atomic testing. The first of Peirene's 2014 Coming of Age series deals with a boy who doesn't grow up, and a whole region caught, literally and figuratively, in the fallout from the arms race. Told in plain, straightforward prose, it's a tale to make your heart ache.






I've read a lot of crime novels over the year but this was my favourite. The fourth of Sharon Bolton's Lacey Flint series, A Dark and Twisted Tide, is set among the old wharfs and  abandoned warehouses of London. A complex story that developed in unforeseen ways, with the story told from multiple points of view and a timeline that jumps backwards and forwards. It's only at the very end that everything comes together - and in a totally unexpected way.







...and to round off my list two rather different 'lighter' reads...

First, something very dark and wicked - Lizzie Prain finds an unusual way to dispose of her husband's dead body as she lovingly cooks her way through his remains in Season To Taste or How To Eat Your Husband. Natalie Young's humour is dark and twisted - think Sweeney Todd meets Desperate Housewives - and not for the squeamish.





Last, not least but certainly the lightest of my list, another debut - from actor Sara Crowe. Campari for Breakfast is a delightfully quirky coming of age tale about finding love and finding oneself. There are family secrets to be unearthed and a ghostly visitor to be braved, while the house threatens to crumble down and desperate ways are sought to save it. I absolutely adored this. It's light, funny and sad by turns, but overwhelmingly full of 17 year old heroine Sue's belief that one day she'll find love and begin to live decadently, sipping campari for breakfast!







Not really eligible for this list were some really amazing books published in previous years; Andrea Levy's Small Island, George Mackay Brown's Greenvoe, and Roopa Farooki's The Flying Man

A History of Loneliness by John Boyne

review by Maryom

For forty years, Odran Yates has been a priest - at first pushed into choosing this career by his mother who claimed he had a vocation, but soon settling into the role. His life has been spent happily enough, mainly at a boys' boarding school, but now, even in his sheltered environment, he can no longer ignore the scandals rocking the Catholic Church in Ireland, or the nagging voice of his conscience. Even when he first entered the seminary at 17, there were incidents between his fellow students which worried him, but Odran has always been able to close his eyes, has never wanted to stir up trouble and always accepted the dubious assurances of his superiors. Finally forced into acknowledging the abuses of trust and power that have been going on around him, Odran comes to realise that by keeping silent he is as guilty as anyone.

A History of Loneliness is a story of shame and pain, the loss of innocence of one man in particular and his country in general. Odran Yates has tried to live a good life in keeping with the dictates of his conscience and his church, but that church has now let him down - not only have some of its members abused their positions of trust and power, but these abuses have been covered up by officials within the church. From being the holder of a revered position, he's now become a distrusted and hated figure, tainted by the guilt of others, reviled by passers by on the street and even his own family.
The story moves from the present, as Odran tries to cope with his sister's deteriorating health and the new troubled world of the priesthood, to his childhood, marred by tragedy, and the progression of his career - his initial enthusiasm, the temptation that nearly led him astray, and the ever-present doubts and qualms to which he resolutely turns a blind eye.  For this is Odran's sin - to have kept quiet, lulled into a state of acceptance and acquiescence by his desire for a peaceful life.

It would no doubt have been easier for the author to have tackled this subject from the standpoint of one of the victims, or their abuser, to have given the reader a clear-cut figure to hate but instead he gives us a character for whom we can feel sympathy; one who at first seems unfairly labelled due to the actions of others, who has tried live up to his ideals but has done as many of us might have - kept quiet for the sake of a peaceful life. Maybe, as his story unwinds, we come to feel that Odran wasn't quite that naive, that his ignorance was deliberate, but ultimately he comes to realise that by keeping quiet he was complicit in the harm that's been done.

I'd expected a moving, hard-hitting read, which A History of Loneliness certainly delivers; I hadn't expected the humour that peeps through from time to time, as it will in life.

Maryom's review - 5 stars

Publisher - Doubleday

Genre - adult contemporary literary fiction

John Boyne author event 2013

John Boyne - author event

Yesterday (8th May 2013) saw John Boyne talking about his latest book, This House is Haunted, at a Waterstones event in Nottingham.

John is most widely known for his book The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas which was made into a film in 2008 and both film and book have received a great deal of acclaim. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is one of the three books he has written for children and This House is Haunted is his eighth adult book.

John started with a reading from the early part of his latest book in which he sets the tone of the story. As a ghost story this is, once again, a genre shift for him as well as the first time he has written a book from the perspective of a woman. The reading certainly captured the imagination of the audience! You can check out the synopsis here on the Waterstones' website.

This was followed by a question and answer session which brought questions as diverse as his writings. A couple of questions really caught my attention. When asked which was his favourite of his own books I think people expected The Boy... but were surprised when he said The Absolutist. A later question about any books he had had rejected revealed that some books had proved more popular than he expected while other had not caught the public's imagination where he had expected them to - I suppose this happens with most authors. The other question that made me smile was when asked what he would have done if his second book hadn't been published (he had abandoned the first book as a learning exercise and it sits in a drawer today) he looked surprised at the question, genuinely, and replied that he would have written another because that's all there is for him to do. Many more questions were asked by the enthusiastic audience and he explained that the idea for The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas came to him and he just sat and wrote and wrote and wrote, stopping only for short breaks and had the first draft completed in two and a half days!

The event wrapped up with the traditional author signing which also gives the ability for short 'one on one's that mean people don't have a roomful of people to feel embarrassed in front of.

Once again an excellent event organised by the Nottingham branch of Waterstones and our thanks go to them and to John Boyne for an excellent evening's entertainment. Remember to watch out for author events in your area and meet your favourite authors.