Book review: The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne

The ABC was running a competition to name the best book of the 21st Century and many of my favourite books were appearing on the Top 10s people were publishing on Facebook.

But I noticed one that I’d never read or even heard about – The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne. I’m so glad that I followed my curiosity to read this book.

The Heart’s Invisible Furies follows the lives a teen girl forced to give up her baby in the 1940s and a man, Cyril, struggling with his sexuality in the 1960s.

The book reveals the cruelties visited on people who strayed from the teachings of the all-powerful church, and these two characters bore the brunt of the prejudices of the time.

The story travels with Cyril across Europe and to America, where he finds new acceptance and happiness, but he cannot completely escape the prejudices that he encountered in Ireland.

This book was incredibly moving and while travelling with Cyril, I gained new insight into lives that I previously had known little about.

There is a touch of A Little Life about this novel, as it follows the brutality visited upon a person throughout a complex life, but it is nowhere near as confronting.

Reading the prologue was also illuminating, as it highlighted the inspiration for the book.

This was a wonderful, heart-felt read that I thoroughly enjoyed.