The Heart’s Invisible Furies is an incredibly emotional account of Civil Avery’s life. The story starts in 1945 West Cork, Ireland when Catherine Goggin is kicked out of her home town on the charge of being pregnant while unmarried. She leaves for Dublin, in search of a new life and with The Great Plan for when the baby comes. She makes an acquaintance with a man on the bus, meets with his friend in Dublin where the three of them arrange to live together. Eventually, Catherin builds her life up working a job at Dáil tearoom.

The readers are then transported to 1952, when Cyril Avery meets Julian Woodbead, the son of his adoptive father’s solicitor. Cyril was adopted by Charles Avery and Maude Avery seven years ago, who made it a point to remind him every day that he is not a real Avery. His adoptive parent’s indifference shattered his confidence. He used to stutter and was very shy around people until the day he met Julian.

Meeting Julian was a turning point in Cyril’s life not only because he found a friend but also because he started realizing his feelings towards him. Being gay in Ireland during the time was considered a sin, so Cyril tried hard to suppress his feelings. In the society that increasingly labeled homosexuality as a disease, Cyril went from doctors to priests to try and find a ‘cure’ for his attraction towards the same-sex, but nothing could stop him from being who he was.

Thus Cyril tries to navigate his life, coping with his unloving parents, his love for Julian, and his fear through an unrelenting society that proliferates hate. He struggles with hiding his sexual identity, discovering his biological roots, and is constantly juggling the rights and wrongs in the world plagued by boundaries.

How did it make me feel?

The Heart’s Invisible Furies is undoubtedly an emotional roller-coaster. I don’t remember feeling these many emotions while reading a single book before. It made me so sad that my heart crumbled, so angry that I couldn’t continue reading. I was so frustrated that I gritted my teeth, and at times so happy that my chest swelled. It made me laugh out loud and cry actual tears. I wanted to shout at Cyril, wanted to hug him, wanted to cry with him. I was exhausted when I finished this book; deeply, emotionally drained.

John Boyne is absolutely brilliant with his characters, his sense of humor, and the use of satire. This book strikes so many chords that words cannot fully express. I cannot fathom the human cruelties, their selfishness, their hypocrisies but then I am fascinated by the human spirit, the beauty of its kindness, and the power of hope and resilience.

If there was one thing I had to point out, occasionally the dialogues felt odd. In a few places, they were not as natural as how normal conversations would occur. That disrupted the flow of the storytelling for me. Other than that, this is a great book with a great story and I highly recommended it.

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This was my first John Boyne’s book. I know his The Boy in The Striped Pajamas is very popular. I am surely going to grab that one soon!

Have you read any of his books? Let me know in the comments.