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Tea-drinking introvert found either behind a book or within arm's reach of one. Book reviewer, and book sniffer. You may have seen me on W24, BooksLive, Aerodrome, Bark Magazine, CultNoise Magazine, or Expound Magazine.

4 Jul 2017

Review: The Hearts Invisible Furies by John Boyne

Who is Cyril Avery? He’s not a real Avery, as his adoptive parents constantly remind him, but was adopted as an act of charity. What Cyril does know is that he’s not like the other boys his age. Shy, reclusive and smart, he spends a great deal of time in his own head. With a writer and human chimney for a mother, and a slightly bent banker for a father (who adds his own flavour to the house with his occasional stints in prison), Cyril does not have the most conventional home life.

Things are further complicated with the arrival of Julian, a precocious little boy of Cyril’s age who fascinates our young recluse. When he later meets Julian in school, Cyril knows he has found his partner in crime, and is hopelessly devoted to Julian, joining him in a series of adventures in Catholic Ireland, where their type of fun seems to be not only discouraged, but a sin.

All the while, Cyril is faced with the possibility that his life could have been different, that the unknown parents who gave him up for adoption could be more than just a murky shadow in his past. Little does he know that the world is indeed a small place, and that fate is about to take him on the ultimate journey of self-discovery, spanning decades and various continents.

The Heart’s Hidden Furies is an incredibly moving tale that could melt the heart of any ice queen. Boyne is such a gifted story-teller that one cannot help but praise his craft, while seething at the injustices inflicted on his characters. In a country which holds religion as its highest form of order, Cyril Avery’s Ireland is oppressive and bleak, and he and his counterparts long for escape, in order to taste an unknown freedom. However, life has a way of demonstrating that you can never run away from your problems, and that the consequences of bad choices will follow you no matter your geography. In trying to be true to himself, Cyril deceives those around him, further burying himself in secrets, lies and taboo. Only once he truly learns to accept himself as he is, with the help of truly magnificent people, can he truly become Cyril Avery, real or not.

The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne is published by Penguin Random House.

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