Heart, Be at Peace
by Donal Ryan
Award History
| Award | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Orwell Prize for Political Fiction | 2025 | Winner |
| Orwell Prize for Political Fiction | 2024 | Shortlist |
| Orwell Prize for Political Fiction | 2023 | Shortlist |
About This Book
Donal Ryan's sixth novel is a deeply human story of a Tipperary farming family across several generations, following their interconnected lives and loves with the lyrical warmth and precise emotional intelligence that characterises all of Ryan's fiction. The novel explores how land, family obligation, and love shape an Irish community across time. It won the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction in 2025.
About the Author
Donal Ryan is an Irish novelist and short story writer born in 1976 in Nenagh, County Tipperary. He worked for fifteen years as a civil servant before becoming a full-time writer. His debut novel The Spinning Heart (2012, Lilliput Press) was rejected by over forty agents before finding a publisher; it went on to win the Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards and the EU Prize for Literature. Read more →
