John Boyne Popular Books

John Boyne Biography & Facts

John Boyne (born 30 April 1971) is an Irish novelist. He is the author of fourteen novels for adults, six novels for younger readers, two novellas and one collection of short stories. His novels are published in over 50 languages. His 2006 novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas was adapted into a 2008 film of the same name. Biography Boyne was born in Dublin, where he still lives. His first short story was published by the Sunday Tribune and in 1993 was shortlisted for a Hennessy Literary Award. His B.A degree is from Trinity College Dublin in English in 1993, and he subsequently obtained an MA degree from the University of East Anglia. In 2015 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of East Anglia. He chaired the jury for the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize.Boyne is gay, and has spoken about the difficulties he encountered growing up gay in Catholic Ireland. He has spoken of suffering abuse in Terenure College as a student there.He regards John Banville as "the world's greatest living writer".In August 2020, it was noticed that Boyne's latest novel, A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom, which takes place in the real world in the year 1 AD, contained a section in which a seamstress refers to the ingredients used to create dyes. However, the listed ingredients were entirely fictional, being taken from the 2017 videogame The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and included items such as the "silent princess" flower, "octorok eyeballs", and "the tail of the red lizalfos". The error was initially posted on Reddit, and after writer Dana Schwartz highlighted the segment on Twitter, theorizing that Boyne had done an Internet search for 'how to dye clothes red' and used the Zelda results without looking into the context, Boyne admitted his error, saying "I'll leave it as it is. I actually think it's quite funny and you're totally right. I don't remember but I must have just Googled it. Hey, sometimes you just gotta throw your hands up and say 'yup! My bad!'" The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas was published in 2006. The book has sold over seven million copies worldwide. A Heyday/Miramax film adaptation, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, was shot in Budapest in mid-2007 and released in late 2008. Directed by Mark Herman, the film stars Asa Butterfield, David Thewlis, Vera Farmiga, Rupert Friend and Sheila Hancock. In January 2020, the book was cited by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, in a set of back and forth tweets between the museum and the author, as a book that should be avoided by those promoting accurate understanding of the Holocaust. In response, Boyne suggested that the Museum's criticism contained inaccurate information. My Brother's Name Is Jessica Boyne's 2019 book My Brother's Name Is Jessica, about a young boy coming to terms with his older sibling coming out as a trans girl, was criticised over its portrayal of transgender topics and for misgendering people. In an article in The Irish Times promoting the book, Boyne explained that he was inspired to write it by a transgender friend of his, and had spoken to gender-identity professionals and "several trans people" to ensure he portrayed the book's subject matter authentically. However, he received further criticism for stating in the article that "I reject the word 'cis'... I don't consider myself a cis man; I consider myself a man." He added that "while I will happily employ any term that a person feels best defines them... I reject the notion that someone can force an unwanted term on to another".Boyne deleted his Twitter account, citing social media harassment, though he would later rejoin the site. Some writers have supported him. In 2020, comedian and writer Aidan Comerford, who had repeatedly accused Boyne of transphobia, issued an apology via Twitter. Comerford admitted that his tweets about Boyne "were relentless harassment" that had caused Boyne "great distress." Boyne responded by saying, "I am grateful for Aidan Comerford's apologies and retractions and, outside of that, I have no further comment."He alluded to the backlash he received over the book again in a newspaper column in 2021. Although Boyne did not mention Comerford by name, he referenced someone who "admitted that he’d been engaged in a determined campaign of 'relentless harassment'", and then "slithered back to his subterranean cavern to lick his wounds". Selected works Novels 2000: The Thief of Time (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) 2001: The Congress of Rough Riders (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) 2004: Crippen (Penguin) 2006: Next of Kin (Penguin) 2008: Mutiny on the Bounty (Doubleday) 2009: The House of Special Purpose (Doubleday) 2011: The Absolutist (Doubleday) 2013: This House Is Haunted (Doubleday) 2014: A History of Loneliness (Doubleday) 2017: The Heart's Invisible Furies (Doubleday) 2018: A Ladder To The Sky (Doubleday) 2020: A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom (Doubleday) 2021: The Echo Chamber (Doubleday) 2022: All the Broken Places (Doubleday) 2023: Water (Doubleday)Novels for younger readers 2006: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (David Fickling Books) 2010: Noah Barleywater Runs Away (David Fickling Books) 2012: The Terrible Thing That Happened To Barnaby Brocket (Doubleday Children's) 2013: Stay Where You Are And Then Leave (Doubleday Children's) 2015: The Boy at the Top of the Mountain (Doubleday Children's) 2019: My Brother's Name Is Jessica (Puffin)Novellas 2008: The Second Child (New Island Books) 2009: The Dare (Black Swan Books)Short story collections 2015: Beneath The Earth (Doubleday)Awards The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas: winner: Irish Book Awards Children's Book of the Year; Irish Book Awards Radio 1 Book of the Year; Qué Leer Award Best International Novel of the Year (Spain); Orange Prize Readers Group: Book of the Year; Children's Books Ireland Book of the Year. Shortlist: Irish Book Award Novel of the Year; British Book Award; the Border's New Voices Award; the Ottar's Children's Book Prize; the Paolo Ungari Literary Award (Italy); Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (Germany). Longlist: The Carnegie Medal; the International IMPAC Literary Award Noah Barleywater Runs Away: shortlisted for Irish Book Awards Children's Book of the Year; Sheffield Children's Book Award, Hull Children's Book Award; Longlist: The Carnegie Medal The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket: shortlisted for Irish Book Awards: Children's Book of the Year; Longlist: The Carnegie Medal The Absolutist: Longlist: International Dublin Literary Award Stay Where You Are And Then Leave: shortlisted for Irish Book Awards Children's Book of the Year; Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (Germany) A History of Loneliness: shortlisted for Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year The Boy At The Top Of The Mountain: shortlisted for Irish Book Awards Children's Book of the Year; Children's Books Ireland Book of the Year The Heart's Invisible Furies: shortlisted for Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year The 'Invisib.... Discover the John Boyne popular books. Find the top 100 most popular John Boyne books.

Best Seller John Boyne Books of 2024

  • The Visitors synopsis, comments

    The Visitors

    Caroline Scott

    From the highly acclaimed author of The Photographer of the Lost, a BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick, comes a tale of a young war widow and one lifechanging, sundrenched visit to Co...

  • Theo synopsis, comments

    Theo

    Paul Torday

    From the bestselling author of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, a haunting novella that introduced one of the most memorable characters from Torday's novel Light Shining in the Forest....

  • The Missing Boy synopsis, comments

    The Missing Boy

    Rachel Billington

    'It's highly readable and is written with wisdom and compassion' Kate Saunders, THE TIMES'Moving and poignant' STAR MAGAZINE'A wellwrought, honest book that is generous with its in...

  • Song For A Dark Queen synopsis, comments

    Song For A Dark Queen

    Rosemary Sutcliff

    From the day Cadwan fashioned a sword from a willow wand and composed a victory song for his young mistress, Boudicca, he has loyally charted her rise to Queen. Boudicca is the str...

  • Todas las piezas rotas synopsis, comments

    Todas las piezas rotas

    John Boyne

    Una historia conmovedora sobre una anciana que debe enfrentarse a su terrible pasado. Una secuela magistral de El niño con el pijama de rayas.Cuando Bruno decidió acompañar a su am...

  • The Legacy of Hartlepool Hall synopsis, comments

    The Legacy of Hartlepool Hall

    Paul Torday

    Hartlepool Hall has been in Ed's family for generations but is that about to change, and who is the mysterious Lady Alice?'A deliciously dark comedy about class, snobbery and a va...

  • The Castle in the Pyrenees synopsis, comments

    The Castle in the Pyrenees

    Jostein Gaarder

    Two former lovers are brought back together ... but can they really trust their pasts? The new novel from the bestselling author of SOPHIE'S WORLD.Through five intense years in the...

  • El noi del pijama de ratlles synopsis, comments

    El noi del pijama de ratlles

    John Boyne

    Amb estudi introductori, propostes de treball i comentaris de text de Gisela Herranz Prat.Berlín 1942. La guerra no afecta gaire la vida de Bruno, un noi de nou anys que viu en un ...

  • Madwoman On The Bridge And Other Stories synopsis, comments

    Madwoman On The Bridge And Other Stories

    Su Tong & Josh Stenberg

    Set during the fallout of the Cultural Revolution, these bizarre and delicate stories capture the collision of the old China of vanished dynasties, with communism and today's tiger...

  • Crash Dive synopsis, comments

    Crash Dive

    Larry Bond

    Edited by bestselling author Larry Bond, Crash Dive collects the best nonfiction writing on submarines, the nearsilent killers of the deep and their crews. They are the ultimate u...

  • Two Eerie Tales of Suspense synopsis, comments

    Two Eerie Tales of Suspense

    Paul Torday

    Two creepy, spinetingling tales from the masterful storyteller and author of R&J book club selected SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMENIn BREAKFAST AT THE HOTEL DÉJÀ VU, Bobby Clarke a...

  • The Burning Boys synopsis, comments

    The Burning Boys

    John Fuller

    When David's mother is killed in the Blitz he moves to a new life in Lancashire with his young aunt Jean. As he watches the adult world around him, a fighter pilot wakes to dis...

  • The Hopeless Life Of Charlie Summers synopsis, comments

    The Hopeless Life Of Charlie Summers

    Paul Torday

    A modern A TALE OF TWO CITIES by the bestselling author of SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN.'Brilliantly and sympathetically drawn...this wonderfully written, clever book does not miss ...

  • The Dead House synopsis, comments

    The Dead House

    Billy O'Callaghan

    Sometimes the past enduresand sometimes it never lets go. This bestselling debut by an awardwinning writer is both an eerie contemporary ghost story and a dreadinducing psychologic...

  • A History of Loneliness synopsis, comments

    A History of Loneliness

    John Boyne

    Bestselling author John Boyne's A History of Loneliness tells the riveting narrative of an honorable Irish priest who finds the church collapsing around him at a pivotal moment in ...

  • The Hound of the Baskervilles synopsis, comments

    The Hound of the Baskervilles

    Arthur Conan Doyle

    "Mr Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!"The terrible spectacle of the beast, the fog of the moor, the discovery of a body: this classic horror story pits detectiv...

  • The Puppet Boy of Warsaw synopsis, comments

    The Puppet Boy of Warsaw

    Eva Weaver

    The story of Mika, a Jewish boy, who becomes a puppeteer in the Warsaw ghetto a stunning debut for fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The Boy with the Striped Pyjamas and Schindl...

  • Rebel Sisters synopsis, comments

    Rebel Sisters

    Marita Conlon-McKenna

    The No.1 bestselling novel from one of Ireland's most loved writers!With the threat of the First World War looming, tension simmers under the surface of Ireland. Bright, beautiful ...

  • The Paper Bag Baby synopsis, comments

    The Paper Bag Baby

    Ruth Thomas

    Edward is the school wheelerdealer with dreams of becoming a millionaire by the time he's twenty. When he finds a mysterious package in the park, he ropes two schoolmates into ...

  • Light Shining in the Forest synopsis, comments

    Light Shining in the Forest

    Paul Torday

    'An unsettling, haunting story...memorable, atmospheric and tense' THE LADY'Wellwritten, wellcrafted and constantly gripping' DAILY MAIL'A disquieting and atmospheric psychological...

  • Sweet Adversity synopsis, comments

    Sweet Adversity

    Sheryl Gwyther

    'ADVERSITY MCALLISTER IS THEATRICAL, KIND, SMART AS A WHIP AND OH SO BRAVE. I WANT HER TO BE MY BEST FRIEND' Katrina Nannestad, author of Olive of Groves and The Girl, the Dog and ...

  • The Adventures of Robin Hood synopsis, comments

    The Adventures of Robin Hood

    Roger Lancelyn Green

    The classic story of social justice and outrageous cunning. Robin Hood, champion of the poor and oppressed, stands against the cruel power of Prince John and the brutal Sheriff of...

  • The Orange Girl synopsis, comments

    The Orange Girl

    Jostein Gaarder

    From the author of SOPHIE'S WORLD, a modern fairy tale with a philosophical twist.'It should be read by all' VOGUE'My father died eleven years ago. I was only four then. I never th...

  • Naked synopsis, comments

    Naked

    Kevin Brooks

    London, 1976: a summer of chaos, punk, love . . . and the boy they called Billy the Kid.It was the summer of so many things. Heat and violence, love and hate, heaven and hell. It w...

  • Westfallen synopsis, comments

    Westfallen

    Brashares, Ann & Ben Brashares

    From #1 New York Times bestselling Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants author Ann Brashares and her brother Ben Brashares comes an actionpacked middle grade alternate history thrille...

  • A Ladder to the Sky synopsis, comments

    A Ladder to the Sky

    John Boyne

    “A satire of writerly ambition wrapped in a psychological thriller . . . An homage to Patricia Highsmith, Oscar Wilde and Edgar Allan Poe, but its execution is entirely Boyne’s own...

  • Probleme der Darstellung des Holocaust - John Boyne, Ralph Giordano, Art Spiegelmann synopsis, comments

    Probleme der Darstellung des Holocaust - John Boyne, Ralph Giordano, Art Spiegelmann

    Sarah Ruhnau

    1 Einleitung „ Man kann nach Auschwitz nicht mehr atmen, essen, lieben, lesen […]“ (Böll zitiert nach Kiedaisch, 90), so drückte Heinrich Böll seine Gedanken und Gefühle gegenüber ...

  • Acts of Allegiance synopsis, comments

    Acts of Allegiance

    Peter Cunningham

    For readers of The Goldfinch and classic le Carré, a propulsive tale of espionage, betrayal, loyalty, and love, set during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.Marty Ransom, son of the...

  • More Than You Can Say synopsis, comments

    More Than You Can Say

    Paul Torday

    The bestselling author of SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN returns with a Buchanesque thriller.'Torday has an extraordinary gift for making apparent "normality" look sinister and strang...

  • The Echo Chamber synopsis, comments

    The Echo Chamber

    John Boyne

    'His relish is infectious' Times'The funniest book I've read in ages. Savage but compelling' Ian Rankin'Funny, rumbustious, unstinting and wonderfully Hogarthian' The Observer'Shar...

  • Devils Within synopsis, comments

    Devils Within

    S. F. Henson

    A 2018 William C. Morris Award FinalistKilling isn’t supposed to be easy. But it is. It’s the after that’s hard to deal with.Nate was eight the first time he stabbed someone; he wa...

  • El noi de la casa de la muntanya synopsis, comments

    El noi de la casa de la muntanya

    John Boyne

    De l'autor de supervendes de "El noi del pijama de ratlles"Quan el Pierrot es queda orfe, es veu obligat a deixar la seva casa de París i començar una nova vida amb la seva tieta B...

  • A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom synopsis, comments

    A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom

    John Boyne

    From the bestselling author of A Ladder to the Sky“a darkly funny novel that races like a beating heart” (People)comes a new novel that plays out across all of human history: a sto...

  • Two Brothers synopsis, comments

    Two Brothers

    Ben Elton

    Bestselling author Ben Elton's most personal novel to date, Two Brothers transports the reader to the time of history's darkest hour.Berlin 1920Two babies are born.Two brothers. Un...

  • Escape synopsis, comments

    Escape

    Barbie Probert-Wright

    Two sisters.One extraordinary true story.Germany, 1945. Trapped between advancing armies, stranded hundreds of miles from their mother, and with their father missing in action, sis...

  • Bad Day in Blackrock synopsis, comments

    Bad Day in Blackrock

    Kevin Power

    Inspiration for the 2012 awardwinning film What Richard Did – from the author of White City, available for preorder now'An excellent novel... It comes from the gut, it's raw, ...

  • Enemy Camp synopsis, comments

    Enemy Camp

    David Hill

    When of hundreds of Japanese captives arrive at Featherston POW camp, the tiny town is divided. Tensions run high and then, on 25 February 1943, disaster strikes. Three boys witnes...

  • The World According to Anna synopsis, comments

    The World According to Anna

    Jostein Gaarder & Donald Bartlett

    When fifteenyearold Anna begins receiving messages from another time, her parents take her to the doctor. But he can find nothing wrong; in fact he believes there may be some truth...

  • Fallen synopsis, comments

    Fallen

    Lia Mills

    Fallen by Lia Mills a remarkable love story amidst the ruins of the First World War and the Easter RisingSpring, 1915. Katie Crilly gets the news she dreaded: her beloved twin bro...

  • A History of Running Away synopsis, comments

    A History of Running Away

    Paula McGrath

    Book of the Year in the Irish Times'A wonderful storyteller' Joseph O'ConnorOn the quays of Dublin, Jasmine is running, training for a fight she can't compete in. It's 1982 and box...