This is NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Kia Miyakana-Natis. Great things can spring from the ashes of perceived failure. Just ask author Donald Ryan. He's one of Ireland's most celebrated modern writers and recently spent over two years pinning an epic novel that spanned a man's lifetime

and what Ryan described as a hellscape. He felt it was the greatest thing he'd ever written.

His publisher, after reading the draft, disagreed. Ryan was left with a choice, Rewrite or start something new.

Luckily for us, the inspiration poured in,

and in just 12 short weeks,

he had the draft of a new novel

about an Irish family filled with passionate women

navigating love and loss through the generations.

His novel is called the Queen of Dirt Island. Ryan chats here

with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly about the women in his life who inspired this book.

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life. Distant wars, murky conflicts,

diplomacy behind closed doors.

On our new show, Sources and Methods, NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,

helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Donald Ryan's novel, The Queen of Dirt Island, is a love story.

Now, I do not mean in the traditional romantic sense.

Rather, it's about the love that four generations of women in the Alewart family feel for one another.

Beginning in 1982, the novel chronicles the lives of these four women in County Tipperary, Ireland, Mary, Eileen, Searsha, and Pearl. We glimpse their struggles, their knock the walls down fights, both with outsiders and amongst themselves. We glimpse their commitment to one another.

Well, Donald Ryan joins me now from Limerick, Ireland. Welcome to All Things Considered.

Thank you, Mary Louise. It's such a pleasure to be here.

I want you to begin where the book begins with the birth of Sershah, who becomes the narrator.

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