Novel of the Year

EASON

Novel of the Year

About the award

Inaugurated in 2000, the Novel of the Year was the foundation stone of the Irish Book Awards. Early winners included John McGahern, Colum McCann and Anne Enright. Eason are proud to sponsor this prestigious award, which is always a mark of the depth and quality of Irish fiction.

Sponsored by

The Shortlist 2021

White City
Kevin Power
The Magician
Colm Tóibín
The Echo Chamber
John Boyne
Small Things Like These
Claire Keegan
Panenka
Rónán Hession
Beautiful World, Where Are you
Sally Rooney

Eason Novel of the Year 2021

The Bee Sting

by Paul Murray

The Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie’s once-lucrative car business is going under – but rather than face the music, he’s spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker with a renegade handyman. 
 
His wife Imelda is selling off her jewellery on eBay while their teenage daughter Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge-drink her way to her final exams. And twelve-year-old PJ is putting the final touches to his grand plan to run away from home. 
 
Where did it all go wrong? A patch of ice on the tarmac, a casual favour to a charming stranger, a bee caught beneath a bridal veil? 
 
Can a single moment of bad luck change the direction of a life? And if the story has already been written – is there still time to find a happy ending? 

The Bee Sting
Shadowplay
by Joseph O’Connor
Normal People
by Sally Rooney
Midwinter Break
by Bernard MacLaverty
Solar Bones
by Mike McCormack
2019
2018
2017
2016

Previous Winners

2020 – Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan

2019 – Shadowplay
by Joseph O’Connor

2018 – Normal People
by Sally Rooney

2017 – Midwinter Break
by Bernard MacLaverty

2016 – Solar Bones
by Mike McCormack

2015 – The Green Road
by Anne Enright

2014 – Academy Street
by Mary Costello

2013 – The Guts
by Roddy Doyle

2012 – Ancient Light
by John Banville

2011 – Mistaken
by Neil Jordan

2010 – Room
by Emma Donoghue

2009 – The Secret Scripture
by Sebastian Barry

2008 – The Gathering
by Anne Enright

2007 – Winterwood
by Patrick McCabe

2006 – The Sea
by John Banville

2005 – Havoc In Its Third Year
by Ronan Bennett

2004 – Dancer
by Colum McCann

2003 – That They May Face the Rising Sun
by John McGahern