SHELF LIFE
John Marrs – the bestselling author of twisty, turny, high-concept thrillers – talks us through five books that made a massive impact on him
John Marrs
John Boyne, The Heart’s Invisible
Furies
‘Like many other readers, my first introduction to Boyne was with the novel The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas. Despite the subsequent controversy that continues to plague this book and which will no doubt continue with his sequel All The Broken Places, I took it for what is was – abeautifully written, harrowing read. But for no reason in particular, I didn’t actually read anything again of his for another six years. It was a Guardian review of A Ladder To The Sky in 2018 that caught my attention and soon after purchasing it, I became completely enraptured by it. And that began my belated love affair with Boyne’s back catalogue. And it was Furies, published a year before Ladder, that resonated with me the most. Across 700 deftly handled pages comes the epic story of Cyril Avery, born out of wedlock in the 1940s to a teenage girl and adopted by a couple with little love for one another let alone a child. It follows him throughout his life and those he surrounds himself with and it’s just a glorious, glorious read. I’ve since caught up on almost everything Boyne has ever written. For me, he’s one of the most interesting, diverse authors out there.’