Irish author Donal Ryan's latest novel, 'Where Are the Kings', delves into the concept of 'grief-time', illustrating how the experience of loss can distort the ordinary passage of hours. The narrative explores how days can stretch, collapse, repeat, and disappear, with memories gathering their own temporal weight.
The story introduces Jack, a 12-year-old boy under the care of his mother's family following her death and his father's institutionalisation. Jack is described as being on the cusp of adolescence, sensing a deep-seated family injury that the adults are reluctant to discuss directly.
Set in a quiet part of Tipperary, the novel's timeline is fluid, appearing to be the late 1990s, though this detail is presented as secondary to the emotional landscape. The book is Ryan's eighth novel and hints at inhabiting the same world as his 2020 work, 'Strange Flowers'.