The Invisible Furies of the Heart

Cyril is not “a true Avery” and never will be – at least, that's what his parents, Maude and Charles, keep telling him. But if he's not a true Avery, who is he? Born to a single mother banished from the rural Irish community where she grew up, and adopted by the Averys, a wealthy and eccentric Dublin couple, Cyril forges an identity through improbable encounters and learns to fight against the prejudices of an Irish society where difference and freedom of choice are far from guaranteed.

A grand fresco of Ireland's social history transformed into an existential epic. Florence Bouchy, Le Monde des livres.

John Boyne shares with John Irving's masterpiece, The World According to Garp, the same epic sweep. Delphine Peras, L'Express.

A sentimental and political education carried by the art of a novelist who knows how to probe hearts and minds. Christophe Ono-dit-Biot, Le Point.

Translated from the English (Ireland) by Sophie Aslanides.

📖 The opinion of Librairie du Grimoire Ancien

By our editorial & librarian committee

John Boyne, author of the famous The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, delivers with The Heart's Invisible Furies a masterful novel about the quest for identity and the fight against prejudice in 20th-century Ireland. This existential fresco follows Cyril Avery, an adopted son who will never be "a true Avery," in his quest to define who he truly is.

What gives this novel its strength is its ability to intertwine the intimate and the collective, Cyril's personal journey and the social history of a conservative and intolerant Ireland. Boyne excels at probing the "invisible furies" — those inner torments, repressed desires, denied identities that form the beating heart of his narrative.

The comparison with John Irving's The World According to Garp is justified: the same epic sweep, the same ability to transform a sentimental education into a social fresco, the same tenderness for marginalized characters. Sophie Aslanides' translation finely renders Boyne's sensitive and incisive prose.

Beyond its Irish roots, this novel carries a universal message about the right to be oneself, the violence of social norms, and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of oppression. An essential read for anyone interested in identity quests and the struggle for freedom to be.

Our rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — A powerful and moving existential epic that probes the depths of the human heart.