'The Queen of Dirt Island' captures the bond between women in an Irish family

Donal Ryan's new novel, The Queen of Dirt Island , centers its women characters. He tells NPR's Mary Louise Kelly that making the men peripheral wasn't his goal – "it just kind of happened." In today's episode, he explains how a childhood spent listening to his grandmother, sister and neighbors in his mom's kitchen inspired the voices in the book, and why he wrote with a strict word count in mind for each chapter. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy